Miracle Babies Bishop Arrested

Glasgow Daily Record/June 14, 2006

A self-styled bishop at the centre of a baby-smuggling probe has been arrested and is facing the boot from Scotland.

Gilbert Deya claims to have helped infertile women give birth to "miracle babies" by prayer.

The millionaire preacher, who was wanted on an international warrant for questioning over a child trafficking ring in his native Kenya, was spotted at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last week.

He was supporting a couple involved in a civil paternity case.

It is understood that one of the court officers remembered him from a Daily Record story in September 2004 in which we revealed he had fled to Scotland to escape the warrant.

Last Tuesday, police were called and they swooped on the court with immigration officers.

Deya was arrested and transferred to Dungavel Immigration Centre in Lanarkshire to await extradition.

He is wanted for questioning over a group alleged to have stolen or illegally bought at least 19 children from poor mothers.

DNA tests on them did not match them to the people who said they were their parents. In 2004, we revealed he was hiding in Scotland after raids on his Nairobi home in which seven people, including his wife Mary and two midwives, were arrested.

At the time, the ranting "arch bishop" branded Scotland's national newspaper an "enemy of God" for revealing the investigation.

At least one maternity hospital is being investigated over claims that parents were told their babies had died in childbirth when, in fact, they were sold as "miracle" tots to desperate couples in Britain for £5000 each.

Deya, 54, appeared to be keeping a low profile but his cover was blown last week at court and he was arrested under the Immigration Act.

A police source said: "Deya was recognised by a court officer who remembered the stories in the Record at the time.

"It was such an extraordinary tale it stuck with him. He alerted a police officer, asking if Deya should be out and about.

"Checks were made which revealed he should not."

Members of Deya's UK church branches - which he set up in 1995 -are urged to give up to 10 per cent of their salaries to help support the miracle babies.

He is said to have three homes, a jet and a helicopter but claims he has not profited from his ministry.

Police DNA evidence is "beyond the understanding of man," he said.