He confronted his ex-wife Kate, who eventually admitted she had engaged in an on-off affair with a colleague during their 20-year marriage, which ended in 2006.<\/div>\n

Terrell represented Mason as he attempted to claw back a \u00a34 million cash sum paid as part of his divorce settlement in 2008, while also pursuing his ex-wife for paternity fraud.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

$\"Richard$ <\/div>\n

Richard Mason with his ex wife and the three sons he has discovered are not his<\/span>\u00a0CREDIT:<\/span>\u00a0KEVIN HOLT<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

M<\/span>rs Mason agreed at the end of November to settle matters with a payment of \u00a3250,000 \u2013 on the condition the biological father remained anonymous. Terrell believes the move may have been prompted by a desire to stop the identity being disclosed in court. In recent days Mason has suggested he will write a book about his ordeal and offer up a \u00a35,000 reward to reveal the identity of the biological father of his sons.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

S<\/span>ensational it may seem but for Terrell, who established his solicitor\u2019s firm in Peterborough in 1988, such stories are becoming routine work \u2013 albeit usually without such eye-watering sums at stake. He regularly receives enquiries from fathers as far and wide as Canada to New Zealand, as well as Britain: in total, the 64-year-old estimates he has handled more than 50 paternity fraud cases, 20 of which have gone to court.<\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve done these cases for senior partners in London legal firms, for doctors, for archaeologists, all sorts of sophisticated people,\u201d he says. \u201cPaternity fraud doesn\u2019t discriminate.\u201d<\/div>\n

Certainly those in the business say such cases are far from refined to the sofas of trashy daytime television; this is a deceit that spans the class divide. Indeed until 1948 the Home Secretary was required to be present at the birth of a member of the Royal family, which Terrell says was to ensure the child was a genuine descendant of the monarch, and not an imposter being sneaked in.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

$\"Roger$ <\/div>\n

Roger Terrell<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A<\/span>ttempts to quantify the scale of Britain\u2019s illicit fecundity are, as you might expect, vague. In 2016 a research project undertaken by scientists from KU Leuven University in Belgium suggested up to\u00a0two per cent of British fathers<\/a>\u00a0may be victims of paternity fraud, adding that given a lack of hard evidence, prior scientific studies \u2013 some of which put that figure as high as 10 per cent \u2013\u00a0 may have been overestimates.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A<\/span>necdotally, though, the numbers are on the rise. British testing firm DNA Clinics analysed 5,000 results selected randomly from between January 2014 and June 2016, and discovered 51 per cent of English men had been ruled out as being the paternal father of children they had been tested for a genetic link to.<\/div>\n

This increase in cuckolded men discovering they have been deceived is, according to Terrell and other legal experts in the field, due to home DNA testing kits being \u201cmuch more prevalent,\u201d he explains. Now widely available online for under \u00a3100, it means we have more conclusive genetic evidence about where we came from than ever before.<\/div>\n

\u201cDNA testing is much more prevalent, much cheaper and that is why these cases will increase,\u201d he says.<\/div>\n

Prior to Richard Mason, Terrell\u2019s most high profile case was a client called Richard Rodwell. In 2013, the then 46-year-old factory manager made headlines after being awarded \u00a325,000 in damages against his former wife after DNA tests revealed their 20-year-old daughter and her 18-year-old brother were not his biological children. Following his 2005 divorce, Rodwell paid out \u00a315,600 in maintenance for the children before finding out they were not his.<\/div>\n

When they discovered the truth, they cut all ties with him. He spoke of suffering from depression in the fallout and feeling as if he had endured a bereavement; whatever money he had secured following the legal battle, he said, could never expunge the grief.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A<\/span>nother client, Andy Phillips from Telford, Shropshire, received a \u00a319,000 out of court legal settlement after discovering he had for years been paying child maintenance to a son that was not his. He said at the time he would never be able to forgive his former partner for the hurt.<\/div>\n

Having seen the impact of such cases at first-hand Terrell believes\u00a0paternity fraud<\/a>\u00a0should be made a criminal offence, but admits \u201cthe police will not pursue criminal prosecutions\u201d.<\/div>\n

To add insult to injury, there is little legal assistance available to those who have been deceived attempting to claw back child maintenance. In 2015 an\u00a0 unidentified university lecturer<\/a>\u00a0known only as Mr X in court was awarded compensation after it was ruled he had been a victim of \u201cclear deceit and fraud\u201d at the hands of his ex-wife, a successful businesswoman, who tricked him into believing the baby she conceived through IVF at a clinic in Spain was his child.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

$\"Richard$ <\/div>\n

Richard Rodwell who discovered his two children were fathered by another man<\/span>\u00a0CREDIT:<\/span>\u00a0DAVID CRUMP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

B<\/span>ut, because of legal precedent, the woman was not required to hand back the \u00a360,000 in child maintenance she received after the couple split.<\/div>\n

The close bonds forged raising a child mean other fathers simply cannot bring themselves to reveal the awful truth to their offspring.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

C<\/span>heryl Grace, senior solicitor based at Stowe Family law in Leeds, currently has a client who has discovered his teenage daughter does not actually belong to him.<\/div>\n

\u201cHe believed all the time she was his then his wife just turned round and said \u2018she isn\u2019t\u2019,\u201d Grace says.<\/div>\n

Initially her client, whose marriage has since broken down, wanted to pursue a DNA test, but has since changed his mind.<\/div>\n

\u201cNow he has time to reflect he has realised he doesn\u2019t want to risk ruining the relationship with his daughter,\u201d she says, underlining that this really can happen to anyone.<\/div>\n

\u201cHuman nature applies to us all,\u201d she says. \u201cIt only takes a woman to get a bit tipsy at the Christmas party or be u<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Telegraph\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n
\u00a0Teaching children boys have periods too is not education, it\u2019s ‘mythinformation’\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n
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CELIA WALDEN<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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\u00a0Teaching children boys have periods too is not education, it\u2019s ‘mythinformation’\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n
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CELIA WALDEN<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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Telegraph\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n
Banning \u2018harmful\u2019 adverts? Rage, rage against the dying of common sense<\/span><\/h1>\n
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TOM WELSH<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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Banning \u2018harmful\u2019 adverts? Rage, rage against the dying of common sense<\/span><\/h1>\n
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TOM WELSH<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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Telegraph<\/h1>\n

Telegraph\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n\u00a0Teaching children boys have periods too is not education, it\u2019s ‘mythinformation’\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n\n\n\nCELIA WALDEN<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n\n

\u00a0Teaching children boys have periods too is not education, it\u2019s ‘mythinformation’\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n\n\n\nCELIA WALDEN<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n\n

Telegraph\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\nBanning \u2018harmful\u2019 adverts? Rage, rage against the dying of common sense<\/span><\/h1>\n\n\n\nTOM WELSH<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n\n

Banning \u2018harmful\u2019 adverts? Rage, rage against the dying of common sense<\/span><\/h1>\n\n\n\nTOM WELSH<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n\n

Telegraph<\/h1>\n

Telegraph\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n
\u00a0Teaching children boys have periods too is not education, it\u2019s ‘mythinformation’\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n
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CELIA WALDEN<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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\u00a0Teaching children boys have periods too is not education, it\u2019s ‘mythinformation’\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n
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CELIA WALDEN<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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Telegraph\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n
Banning \u2018harmful\u2019 adverts? Rage, rage against the dying of common sense<\/span><\/h1>\n
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TOM WELSH<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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Banning \u2018harmful\u2019 adverts? Rage, rage against the dying of common sense<\/span><\/h1>\n
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TOM WELSH<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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