A family say a serial fantasist duped them into believing that their murdered teenage son had fathered a child.
Conner Cowper’s loved ones say his ex-girlfriend told them she was having his baby following his brutal murder at a house party in Holytown, Lanarkshire, Scotland, two years ago.
Relatives also claim that the woman - who we have not named - also pulled the same con on another grieving family.
Conner’s family were shattered to discover the whole story was a lie, reports the Daily Record.
In both cases, text messages show the woman tried to convince families that their loved one had fathered a child with her.
The heartbroken relatives say they finally learned the truth last month when they became aware of each other on social media.
When contacted by the Daily Record, she confirmed she did not have children by the men but denied intentionally misleading the families.
Connor’s gran Janet Fraser told how she had clung to the prospect of having a lasting piece of her grandson, who was murdered by 17-year-old Jolene Doherty in April 2018.
Janet, 60, from Chapelhall, near Airdrie, said: “She said she was pregnant with a son to Conner not long after he was buried.
“She got in contact with me and my daughter, Linda.
“Conner was murdered in the April and she said she’d had Conner’s baby in the September. We were speaking and she said, ‘I’ll send you a photo of Conner’s son’. She sent me a big canvas picture of her holding a baby, saying it was my great grandson.”
Janet added: “When I saw the photo, I believed it was our Conner’s and I thought there was something to hold on to.”
Doherty - one of Scotland’s youngest female murderers - barely knew Conner when she plunged a blade into his neck while pregnant and high on cocaine and alcohol.
The thug, of Wishaw, Lanarkshire, was jailed for a minimum of 16 years last year.
Janet - who Conner called his “second mum” - said: “This girl knew how close I was to my Conner.
"She even phoned me asking if I wanted to go to the christening. But when I phoned the venue in Parkhead, they said there was no christening that day.
“I had the police out at the house and they took her number and phoned her. She told them she had a baby boy and they said there was nothing they could do. I haven’t spoken to her since.
“It’s bad enough our Conner getting murdered without us going through this as well.”
Conner’s mum Linda, 38, described the woman as “evil”, saying she had been sent a 4D scan addressed “to gran and grandpa, from bump”.
She said: “They split up just before Conner died. The things she said were all lies. You couldn’t make it up. There were doubts in my head from day one. She knew I wasn’t stupid and that’s when she got her claws into my mum.”
Last month, the family were horrified to see a Facebook post claiming the same woman had targeted another family from Greenock.
Linda said: “It all finally came out in April. So many people were messaging me telling me about her. I was quite overwhelmed.
“It took me two years to solve the mystery but when we got closure, we felt the door could just be shut and Conner could rest in peace.”
The sister of the Greenock teenager who died in 2012 showed the Record a series of texts and Instagram messages exchanged between her and the woman in recent months.
The mum - who does not wish for her family to be identified - said: “She got in my dad’s taxi and was telling him she had kids and the oldest one is my brother’s. It would have meant he was about 14 or 15 when he got her pregnant.
“She showed him pictures of a child and my dad said we need to get tests done. She was really convincing on the phone. She said her youngest kid’s dad had been murdered. She said she was a nurse.
“When I told my brother’s friends the girl’s name, they started sending me things people had put on social media, calling her a liar.
“I put a post on Facebook and the amount of people who came forward saying she had done this to others was terrifying. The police said they couldn’t do anything.
"Since this started, I’ve been so sick and it’s stirred up all sorts of emotions for us. It’s scary how she believes her own lies. What she’s done is so far-fetched, she could end up doing something really scary.”
The woman in question admitted making contact with both families but denied telling them the kids in the pictures were related to them.
Claiming to be a mum of four, she said: “I don’t know where these allegations have come from.”
She added: “I don’t have anything to say. You’ve got to think of it from my point of view as well and the repercussions that can happen to me.”
