'Who would do that to another human being?' Says disgusted brother of surrogate mother who pretended she was pregnant and FAKED miscarriages to defraud couples

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Louise Pollard, 28, from Plymouth, admitted defrauding childless couples by telling them she was pregnant and then saying she had miscarried

A surrogate mother pretended she was pregnant and then faked having miscarriages to take thousands of pounds from couples desperate to be parents.

Louise Pollard, 28, of Plymouth, took money from two couples in exchange for promising to help them have a baby.  But after telling them she was pregnant, and taking their money in exchange for her services, she then claimed she had miscarried.

She was caught after one of the couples grew suspicious and went to police, and earlier this month, the serial surrogate pleaded guilty at Bristol Crown Court to three charges of fraud against two couples.

Pollard, a former PA who four years ago said she was carrying Osama Bin Laden's grandchildren before suffering a miscarriage, will be sentenced for defrauding couples Keith and Josephine Barnett and Winston and Debra Kaba next week.

Today, one of her victims, who paid Pollard more than £10,000 to carry their baby, said they had had a 'horrendous' experience as their hopes for a baby of their own were dashed.

And Pollard's own brother, Shaun McLoughlin, criticised her, telling the Sun's Alex West: 'The parents pinned all their hopes on her.

'They had to go through the agony of believing they were going to have a child and then that the baby had died.'

He told The Sun: 'Who would do that to another human being?'

Mr McLoughlin, a married double-glazing salesman from Bristol, said his sister found the couples online, before offering to help them.

He said they would pay her to travel to their homes where she would impregnate herself with the husband's sperm.  It is illegal to pay a surrogate more than reasonable expenses in Britain.

Mr McLoughlin said that his sister had tried to drag him into her fraudulent activities, once asking him to fake a doctor's note for her, and also asking for a urine sample from his pregnant wife, Kat, saying she needed it for a drugs test.  He said his wife refused to give the sample.

Mother of two Pollard, who is now on remand, will be sentenced next Friday at Bristol Crown Court.

Pollard, pictured with another baby she gave up, will be sentenced at Bristol Crown Court next Friday

She was caught after one of the couples, who paid her more than £10,000 to carry their child, became suspicious about what Pollard said was a doctor's note saying she had suffered a miscarriage.

Her brother said he warned her that she would get into trouble when he realised what she was doing.  Pollard has worked as a PA and a pole dancer before getting into surrogacy, which she once described as her 'calling'.

Her admission of how she tricked the couples casts new light on her dealings with Osama Bin Laden's son, Omar.

In 2010, Pollard told how she had been implanted with embryos from Omar and his then 54-year-old British wife, Zaina (formerly known as Jane Felix-Browne).

Pollard said she was carrying twins for Zaina Bin Laden, pictured with her, left, and her then husband, Osama Bin Laden's son, Omar, but lost them after she was reportedly attacked while walking in a street in Syria

She posed with Mrs Bin Laden and a positive pregnancy test and defended herself against criticism that she was having a terrorist's grandchildren, saying: 'Just because they have the surname they do, doesn't mean they have done anything wrong.'

But ten weeks into the pregnancy Pollard, who said she was carrying twins for the couple, said she had lost the babies after she was attacked in the street while she was in Syria with Mrs Bin Laden.

This morning Dean Lomas, the son of Mrs Bin Laden, who has reverted back to her original name, said she was not well enough and would not comment.

Bristol Crown Court said Pollard was on remand awaiting pre-sentence review.

SURROGACY AND THE RISKS OF COWBOY PRACTITIONERS

Surrogacy advice: Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, right, with partner Tony, left, and their twins Aspen and Saffron when they were babies

Surrogacy expert Barrie Drewitt-Barlow told MailOnline that cases like Pollard's are increasingly common.

Mr Drewitt-Barlow, head of social work at the British Surrogacy Centre, said: 'We hear about cases like this all the time and it is so sad.

'Often the people who turn to surrogacy do so for a very good reason: perhaps they have had cancer, or they have lost a child, and they have often been through so much already.  So to have to deal with this as well is heart-breaking.'

Mr Drewitt-Barlow, who with his partner, Tony, was the first same sex couple in Britain to use a surrogate mother and be named on the birth certificate as parents, added: 'I heard of one woman who was pregnant with her own child but had four or five childless couples on the go at the same time and told them all it was their baby.

'Other people start talking about their wish for a baby in the pub, and before they know it are in a stranger's house inseminating themselves with a syringe two weeks later. 

'I've also heard of people in Nigeria offering to be surrogates in exchange for cash.'

He said: 'Surrogacy in the UK isn't illegal but it is illegal to pay someone more than reasonable expenses, which is set at about £15,000.

'People going into surrogacy need to make sure they are doing it with someone who had had the proper checks, and the only place in the UK that carries out these checks, including screening for HIV, is the British Surrogacy Centre.'