A DAD who faked a DNA test in order to avoid being proved as the father of his two sons has been jailed.

Steven Dixon, from Latchford, took a mouth swab from a friend and sent it to the Child Maintenance Service so that tests would show he was not the kids’ dad – meaning he would not have to pay support to the mothers.

He was jailed for 18 months today, Tuesday, after admitting three counts of making articles for use in fraud.

Chester Crown Court heard that the CMS received two separate applications in October 2015 and February 2016 from women who claimed that Dixon had fathered their sons.

The 39-year-old, of Ash Acre Meadows, was contacted by the service and sent off for a DNA testing kit.

He asked a friend to provide a sample of his DNA before submitting it alongside a note claiming that it had been taken at his doctor’s practice, the Quays Surgery in Grappenhall, in July 2018.

But Dixon was rumbled after it was discovered that the doctor named on the form, Dr Jon Kisler, had never even worked at this surgery.

Warrington Guardian:

The form submitted by Dixon

An investigation began and a DNA test of the two boys proved that they were half brothers, ‘strengthening’ the women’s claims.

The defendant wrote to the CMS in November 2018, stating: “The pursuit of myself from both you and my ex-partners is now becoming tantamount to harassment.

“This pursuit is now affecting my own life.

“As if it wasn’t traumatic enough on both occasions to find out neither of these children were mine at the time when I believed them to be, to now having to relive it all again and even on having it proved by yourselves by DNA that they are not mine, to then still be being pursued.

“It is simply not acceptable to be allowed to continue.”

A search of the national DNA database by police then found that the swab matched a man called Kenny Jones.

Upon his arrest, Mr Jones told officers that Dixon had asked him to provide the swab so that he could send it to try and prove that he was not the son of his alcoholic dad.

Dixon was then arrested himself in July 2019, but told police that the ‘doctor and the GP practice manager were liars’.

His DNA was taken while in custody, and proved that he was the boys’ parent.

The Crown Prosecution Service’s Maqsood Khan, senior crown prosecutor of the Mersey Cheshire fraud unit, said: “Steven Dixon is a liar and a cheat who has gone to extensive lengths to deny the parentage of his two sons.

“Investigations showed that he’d been at the birth of both of the boys and his signature was on their birth certificates.

“Indeed, he seems to have played a part in their lives for a period.

“But that changed, and he has now turned to criminality to avoid his obligations to his children.

“His apparent indignation at the work of the CMS to get to the truth is audacious to say the least – his deception has no doubt caused distress and hurt to the women and their children, and he is now behind bars.

“The Crown Prosecution Service hopes that this case shows that those who try to lie and cheat their way out of their responsibilities will face the consequences.”

Work and pensions Lords minister Baroness Deborah Stedman-Scott 'welcomed' the sentence handed to Dixon.

She added: "Steven Dixon did everything he could to get out of supporting his two sons.

"His repeated lies and false claims of harassment as the CMS closed in on his elaborate deception were deplorable.

"I welcome the jail term handed down by the courts, which reflects Dixon’s shameful dereliction of his duties as a father.

"As we have done here, the CMS will continue to clamp down on people who think they can abuse the system and evade their responsibilities to their children."