I fooled health officials, says woman at centre of bizarre adoption case

Barbora Skrlova, who is 32, says she succeeded in making psychologists and doctors believe she was a 13-year-old girl. In a newspaper interview, Skrlova also said she appeared before a judge during adoption proceedings, pretending to be a girl of 13 called Anicka. This contradicts earlier reports that the woman who adopted her, Klara Mauerova, switched the daughter of a family friend for Skrlova for the court hearing. Klara Mauerova and her sister Katerina are in custody on charges of abusing the former's seven-year-old son Ondrej.

After it came to light that Ondrej was being kept in horrendous conditions, the bizarre story of the fraudulent adoption slowly emerged. The family is believed to have been involved in a religious sect.

Meanwhile, Klara Mauerova's ex-husband and other relatives have been forbidden from visiting Ondrej and another brother at a children's home. Officials said they seriously breached agreed visiting conditions.