28549/2CHIPPENHAM NEWS EXCLUSIVE: A FATHER-OF-TWO has been billed more than £14,000 for the upkeep of a child he has spent four years proving is not his.

Stephen Hall, 37, of Tellcroft Close, Corsham, took a DNA test last year that showed with 98.9 per cent certainty he was not the father of a child who is now six years old.

So he was shocked when on Tuesday morning a bill for £14,357.43 from the Child Support Agency landed on the doormat.

At first Mr Hall, who had a one-night stand with the child's mother in 1997, believed he was the boy's father, and he supported him financially for two years.

Mr Hall, who has two children, Conor, four, and Louis, two, with his fiance Gemma Aplin, 23, who he met in 1999, said: "I was going around and seeing the boy and was treating him as mine because I thought he was."

For two years Mr Hall, who is a self-employed stonemason, paid £60 a week towards the child and also bought him clothes, toys and gifts.

He said: "I had a lot of feelings for him and was treating him like my first son. But then I had a phone call from one of his mother's friends saying she didn't think he was mine. I made a few inquiries and I tried to speak to his mother and she started getting very angry."

At that point Mr Hall stopped paying anything towards the child and cut all ties with him.

But the CSA continued to charge him for the child's upkeep. Mr Hall said: "I refused to pay anything. But I kept getting bills through the door and the bailiffs turned up."

After seeking advice from a solicitor Mr Hall went to Trowbridge Magistrates' Court last year, when he was advised to have a DNA test to prove he was not the father.

He was sent a letter on October 23 2003 confirming he was not the father, and was told he would receive compensation for the money he had been paying towards the child's upkeep.

The compensation never arrived, but Mr Hall and Miss Aplin were so relieved the ordeal was over they decided to put it behind them. Mr Hall said: "I had such mixed emotions. I was crying, then I was over the moon. But I had lost a son.

"However at the end of the day I have got my own children and a steady relationship and I wanted to put the past behind me."

When the bill arrived on Tuesday he contacted the CSA and his solicitor immediately.

Mr Hall said: "I rang the CSA and spoke to someone and they said they are also charging £120 interest per week.

"Even after we got a letter from a court of law they are still saying you have to hold your hands up to what you have done."

Now they plan to fight for the compensation they never got.

Mr Hall said: "Why should an individual get out of pocket because some woman on the day said I'm the father?"

During the past four years Mr Hall has been referred to the Royal United Hospital, Bath, twice when he developed psoriasis, a skin condition associated with stress, all over his face and body.

He said: "The first bout was just after I was told he wasn't mine and then I got it again at the time bailiffs were banging on the door.

"I don't think the CSA think we have got feelings, to be honest."

He has not seen the child's mother since the DNA test results came through but said she is already claiming another man is her son's father.

He said: "If Gemma wasn't about I would have been on a plane out of here and the bailiffs could have had everything.

"Or I could have done something more serious, which I did think about at some points because you put on a brave face but when you go home you are crying your eyes out."

Miss Aplin said: "There are a lot of issues like this that go unseen. You see things like this on Trisha and you think it's not real. My heart went into my mouth when I saw the bill."

A spokesman for the Child Support Agency said: "It does appear that a letter was issued in error. He is not the father so he will be receiving a letter from us to that effect."