Two parents were criticised by a magistrate last week for registering their two daughters as having an unknown father to claim social benefits.

The pair, who were going through separation proceedings and cannot be named by court order, were fighting over child custody when their false claim was brought to light.

Magistrate Giovanni Grixti “deplored” their behaviour and “urged” the police to take note.

He was considering a criminal case initiated by the mother against her ex-partner for allegedly failing to return one of their children and acquitted the man.

The case goes back to September 2004, when the girl refused to go back to her mother, saying she would be beaten, the father claimed.

He sought legal advice and went to the Government’s social agency Appoġġ, before deciding not to allow his daughter to live with her mother. Social workers testified about the mother’s behaviour, pointing out that she had an alcohol problem and would hit her daughter.

In deciding whether the child was unlawfully held by her father, the magistrate said irrefutable evidence was presented that this was not the case.

The mother even testified her daughter wanted to live with her father.