Court asked to keep baby a secret from father

A mother asked the Court of Appeal on Wednesday to keep the identity of her baby a secret from the father. After a county court ordered that the baby's father should be told, the mother, whose baby is the result of a one-night stand, went to the Court of Appeal to ask for the order to be reversed.

The mother, 20, wishes to put her 17 week old baby girl up for adoption, but the local authority argued that they would like to approach the father to see if he is willing and able to take care of her. Eleanor Hamilton QC, representing the mother, told the court that the two work colleagues had a one-night stand after they had both broken up with long-term partners. The father was now said to be back with his fiancée with no idea about the birth of his child.

Lord Justice Thorpe, who led the panel of three appeal judges, said: "It is difficult to imagine a more dysfunctional family than this."

Judgment was reserved.