"Maybe if I do this then everything will be over. Mum will be happy like she was before”

In a moment of unbearable poignancy the girl, known only as A, told how she had gone along with her mother’s plans to win the woman’s affection.

She told the High Court: ‘Mum said to me, “A, the only way I can have a fourth child is for you to get pregnant”.

‘I was shocked, pretty shocked at first. And then I suddenly thought, “Maybe if I do this then everything will be over. Mum will be happy like she was before”.

‘And I also thought from a selfish point of view, “If I do this . . . maybe she will love me more”.’

A was only 13 when her mother revealed her plans, and just 14 when the humiliating and painful ordeal of the insemination ‘programme’ began.