A teenager who claimed she suffered a miscarriage abducted a baby boy, a court heard.

Katie Archer snatched six-month-old George Tipping from a cafe in Brighton in October last year and took him to her boyfriend's mother pretending the child was hers.

Archer, 18, of Birdham Road, Brighton, was jailed yesterday for 18 months after pleading guilty to abduction at an earlier hearing. The court heard the baby's mother, Sarah Tipping, had left him with her father, James, while she went to work on October 12 last year.

Martin Field, prosecuting, said Mr Tipping received a call that day from Archer who asked him to do an errand for her. The pair went to a cafe in Brighton where Mr Tipping asked Archer, who had babysitted for George on several occasions, to look after the baby while he was away.

When he returned a short time later both Archer and the baby were gone.After snatching the baby, Archer caught a train to Hampshire to visit Sue Appleby, the mother of her boyfriend Darren.

Once there, Mrs Appleby grew suspicious and called the police. Archer was arrested and baby George was returned to his mother having been missing for 11 hours. Mr Martin added: "The Crown suggests this young lady is surprisingly devious for her age. Her assertions have to be considered before being accepted as fact."

Stephen Vullo, defending, said his client committed the offence shortly after her release from Holloway prison having served six months of an 11 month sentence for blackmail. In prison she had written to Mrs Appleby saying she was pregnant and was looking forward to starting a "happy family" with Darren.

She later confided to two inmates she had suffered a miscarriage in the prison toilets. Mr Vullo said although there was no medical evidence to confirm the pregnancy or the miscarriage, Archer, a former heroin addict, was convinced both had occurred.

Sentencing Archer, Judge Richard Brown said she was "a very devious and dishonest young woman". He added: "It's difficult for us in this room to realise the horror and fear that goes through the mind of a mother who has had her baby abducted."

Judge Brown ordered Archer to serve 18 months in prison in a young offenders' unit for the abduction plus the four months of the sentence she did not serve following her blackmail conviction in March last year.