A Nigerian woman has been jailed for 26 months for bringing a child illegally into the UK.
Peace Sandberg, who was living in the UK, went to Nigeria and bought a baby to become eligible for a council flat, Isleworth Court Court heard.
She was convicted last month of bringing a child illegally into the UK.
She was reported to police after she initially told council staff she had given birth to the boy, then changed her story to say he was adopted.
Sandberg had a daughter who was living with her in council accommodation in the borough of Ealing in west London.
With dual nationality - Nigerian and Swedish - she knew that as a European citizen working in the UK she would be eligible for a council flat because she had a child.
But her daughter left the UK and moved to Sweden to live with her father, Sandberg's ex-husband.
With her daughter's departure Sandberg saw her hopes of a new home slipping away - which is when she hatched her plan to get a child.
Distraught appearance
At the end of 2006 she flew back to Nigeria.
She had already sent £150 which the police believe was payment for the baby boy.
She needed a visa to take him into the UK.
During the trial Andrea Charles, a visa officer at the British High Commission in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, described to the jury how a distraught Sandberg turned up with the baby.
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BBC NEWS | UK | Woman jailed for smuggling baby
Nigerian Woman jailed in the UK for smuggling baby
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