Pastor faces police probe over 'miracle pregnancies'

A self-styled archbishop who tells infertile women they are pregnant with "miracle babies" is at the centre of a child trafficking probe today.

Gilbert Deya, head of Gilbert Deya Ministries, a worldwide evangelical movement with 36,000 British members, claims to exorcise demons from women unable to conceive. Pronouncing them pregnant "by Jesus", he takes them from London to slums in Nairobi, Kenya.

Days later they return with a baby they say is a gift from God. They claim they have had all the visible signs of pregnancy.

But pregnancy tests and ultrasound scans show no baby, and the babies' DNA does not match the supposed parents, a BBC documentary found. The BBC will pass a dossier to the Met.

Today the Home Office said an investigation began in October after a tip-off from Haringey social services. It involves UKIS, the Met and the British High Commission in Nairobi.

Dominic Walker, Bishop of Monmouth, said: "Charismatic church leaders are very powerful. They can abuse that power. I believe in miracles but with the DNA evidence I don't believe these are miracle children."

Deya claims to have helped a 56-year-old have 13 babies in three years. He has told Radio 4: "It's not something I can ex-plain because they are of God and things of God cannot be explained by human beings."