DIVORCED mum Christine Handy fell pregnant as part of a scheme to ensnare the man she believed to be part of the Rothschild banking dynasty, Bristol Crown Court heard.

Mrs Handy, formerly of All Saints Road, Cheltenham, was giving evidence in the case against her former partner Alexander Marc De Rothschild Hatton.

De Rothschild Hatton, 49, denies charges of obtaining money transfers by deception and obtaining property, namely cash, by deception between 2003 and 2005.

The prosecution argued that Mrs Handy was systematically targeted by De Rothschild Hatton over a three-year period so he could obtain more than £300,000, which was spent on a car and designer clothes.

But yesterday Charlotte Holland, defending, accused Mrs Handy of deliberately falling pregnant to get the money she believed De Rothschild Hatton had.

"This wasn't a relationship where you were in for amazing sex. There was little intimacy," she said. "You were hoping to have a child with him so that he would fall in love with you.

"Why would a 38-year-old woman already with three children remove her coil within six weeks of starting a relationship?"

The jury heard an email correspondence from Mrs Handy in which she said she feared he found her sexually repulsive.

Mrs Handy admitted writing the email but denied as "utter rubbish" claims she had tried to ensnare him for cash.

She said many men did not enjoy having sex during pregnancy and that after giving birth to their son in December 2004, he had claimed he was impotent.

She said: "He thought we should have a child. You have to remember this was a three-year drip of constant lies. Once he impregnated me he left me high and dry."

Mrs Handy, who moved from Cheltenham to Cirencester to be closer to De Rothschild Hatton, ended their relationship in November 2006.

Proceeding