My girlfriend claimed our daughter was her lover’s child and secretly ran away to Latvia… but now a DNA test proves I AM the father

Dave Hitchens is sobbing on the sofa in the living room of his West Midlands home where he lives alone.

The 56-year-old’s lounge is littered with legal documents, police letters and contemporaneous hospital forms are strewn across the tables.

Clasped in his hands with a bear like grip, the father-of-three holds the missing piece of the puzzle he has spent two years searching for.

The letter is proof beyond reasonable doubt that a little girl growing up in Latvia is his estranged biological daughter.

It brings an end to a fight Mr Hitchens has spent three long years enduring after his Latvian ex-girlfriend Irina fled the UK with their then baby daughter Holly.

Mr Hitchens, like any father, was enraged and heartbroken, but the news that came next left him on his knees.

Irina claimed he was not the father of their child, but in fact she was the result of a secret affair between her and her lover.

But company manager Mr Hitchens’s victory, following DNA test results received this week proving he is ‘99.99 per cent’ the child’s father, is bitter sweet.

Irina fled the UK shortly after delivering baby Holly and settled back in Latvia having ‘duped authorities’ with a falsified DNA test and birth certificate.

Under the country’s law the man she named as the child’s dad has the ‘legal right’ to fatherhood while a distraught Mr Hitchens cannot even see his little girl – who is now nearly three years old and he can only imagine what she looks like – let alone lovingly hold her in his arms.

For him, the fight goes on and he has vowed to continue with his civil case – which has so far cost him £10,000 – to be given the right to have contact with his daughter whose face he has never seen  – save for one blurry photograph he found on social media from a family event.

After enlisting the help of the campaigning Daily Mail, Mr Hitchens from Worcestershire, has now proven he is the father, beaming: ‘Dave is the dad, as I always knew I was!

‘I broke down and cried. I was confident she was mine but needed that proof.’

The warm-hearted West Midlander continued: ‘I am so happy I have finally found out the truth, it is so exciting. I have been so desperate for this moment for the past three years.’ 

He had previously begged our newspaper: ‘Please help me be a dad to my little girl.’

He stated: ‘I have been going crazy waiting and wanting know so desperately if Holly really is my daughter. It has broken my heart, the not knowing but believing.’

Hitchens – happily clutched the most valuable piece of paper he’s ever held – one which proves he is Holly’s dad –  before showing it to our team.

He had only received the DNA results – which had been carried out in the Latvian capital of Riga on October 6 on court orders – on Tuesday.

The report from the State Forensic Medical Expertise Centre confirmed: ‘DNA research determined that Holly may be the biological daughter of David Hitchens with a reliability of 99.99 per cent. The obtained percentage is sufficient to prove paternity.

‘The conclusion is that David Hitchens is the biological father of Holly.’

The overwhelmed father said: ‘The fight goes on and I will never stop for Holly.

‘But at this rate she will be four by the time I see her.’

He believes his ex girlfriend and her partner, fellow Latvian Peter whom she married abroad just weeks after ditching Dave with ‘no explanation’ and whilst pregnant with his baby, should both face sanction.

Mr Hitchens is both baffled and hurt as to why Irina would lie to him asking: ‘Why would you do this to me and our child?’

He added: ‘I was on such a high when I found out we were father and daughter. Baby Holly is my daughter, and now heartbreak and frustration.

‘I have the right to be her biological father but not the legal right in Latvia to see her. I don’t even know the colour of her eyes.’

Mr Hitchens, a contract manager for his cousin’s cleaning company who met Irina when she started working at the successful business, has taken his costly paternity battle to Latvia after British authorities, he claimed, had failed him and dismissed his pleas for help.

Riga City Court Judge llona Zelmene had ruled on September 16 that DNA testing could go ahead and earlier this month Mr Hitchens made yet another trip to Latvia – with his sympathetic boss kindly allowing him to take more time off work – for the joint DNA testing.

The court had heard that Irina, in written submissions, ‘did not recognise’ the paternity claim made by her former partner and had contested it.

Reflecting on the visit, Mr Hitchens told how nervous he was that Irina and the child would not turn up but they did.

He recalled: ‘Irina had not been very happy with the DNA court order, in fact she was furious, and had no right to appeal. She would forcibly be made to attend the test if they did not show up and I half expected them not to be there.’

His latest visit was tinged with sadness and pain because he set eyes on the toddler for the very first time, but only saw the back of her head as she was being cradled by her mother who he believes deliberately covered her face with a blanket.

His eyes lit up as he remembered: ‘I was so excited about seeing Holly and to catch a big smile on her face but her mum shielded her face with a blanket. She hid her from me.’

Holding onto the memory, he said: ‘But I managed to see a little bit of Holly and she has blonde hair tied in plaits going down her back and she was wearing Winnie the Pooh leggings.

‘She looked so small and her mum was holding her tight, and it was nice to see their bond.’

Saliva samples had been taken from him, Irina and Holly. 

The Sarstedt forensic swabs had been taken with ‘all persons staying in the same room at the same time during the sampling,’ according to DNA test documents seen by the Daily Mail.

They had been ordered by the court which had examined in a closed session Mr Hitchen’s civil case against Irina and her partner Peter over paternity of Holly – and procedure for exercising access rights.

Former bank manager Mr Hitchens met Irina, a separated mum-of-three, in early 2022 and the pair struck up a close friendship which developed into a relationship.

They were a couple for around eight months but Irina, while pregnant with his child she initially told him was his, suddenly dumped him in the October.

He was devastated, saying: ‘I really loved her and thought we had a future together.

‘She’s a lovely looking lady, speaks fluent English and was fun to be with. She’s Latvian with a mix of Russian and very strong minded and feisty.’

They never lived together but she enjoyed spending most weekends at his comfortable and tidy home.

At the time she was living in a rented house, in Coventry, West Midlands, with Peter. 

Mr Hitchens was aware the two had previously been long term partners and already shared a daughter, who lived with them.

But they had split up and were ‘living together separately’ for the sake of their daughter, now aged 12, and Irina assured him they were ‘just friends’ in a ‘non-sexual relationship’ and had separate sleeping arrangements.

Although they hadn’t planned to have children, Mr Hitchens told how Holly was conceived in the spring and they were looking forward to being parents together.

He told how she sent him loving text messages about the baby daughter, who they had chosen to name Alice before it was changed to Holly.

She had previously broken the ‘surprise news’ that she was having his baby by giving him an Easter egg with an image stuck on top of a positive pregnancy test.

They hadn’t discussed marriage and as Mr Hitchens has never been wed he was not certain he was ready to make that big commitment but knew he wanted to be with Irina and their baby.

He told how their relationship was blossoming, and Irina posed ‘Demi Moore’ style showing off her bare baby bump.

But by the autumn Irina was cooling her affections towards her partner and in October suddenly told him she was ending the relationship.

He said: ‘I was stunned and there was no reason why. She just blanked me and left her job. I didn’t understand it.’

Mr Hitchens later heard through a female friend of Irina’s the she had left the country and gone back to Latvia.

The ‘bombshell news’ he then received was that she had rekindled her relationship with Peter, and during a holiday visiting her they had suddenly got married weeks after their break – with baby Holly born two months later. 

Her birth certificate states her parents as Irina and Peter. 

Irina refused to have any contact with ex Mr Hitchens, who had ‘no option but to legally fight for the right to be a dad to my daughter’.

He started a lengthy battle, which is still ongoing, with lawyers and private investigators and several trips to Latvia for court hearings and the all important DNA testing.

He said: ‘It’s cost me about £10,000 so far but it’s worth every penny. My boss, who is my cousin, has leant me some money and has allowed me time off work to travel back and forth to Latvia.

‘My cousin and my sister have been my rocks during my ordeal.’

Following Irina’s quick move abroad he asked police to investigate but because she was no longer living under their jurisdiction they were unable to question her.

A letter from the force Mr Hitchens has shared reads: ‘Until a DNA test is completed there is no supportive evidence surrounding this claim. Without the evidence, we will be unable to progress this matter.’

The correspondence adds: ‘I am aware that you have successfully been able to get the Latvian Courts to pursue the matter and I would request that the police are updated once the DNA test has been completed in Latvia, so that a separate investigation can be completed as this would likely fall into the Child Investigation department.’

Mr Hitchens agreed that was ‘encouraging’ and he has now informed police he has proven to be the biological father so hopes an investigation in this country can start.

Moving forward in his ’emotional rollercoaster’ battle to see his daughter, Mr Hitchens has another court hearing in Latvia in six months on April 21, 2026.

He explained that the hearing would be for him to win the right to see his daughter, saying: ‘I am happy for her to stay with her mother and don’t want to take her away, but I want to see her, to be a dad to her, and for her to visit me in England.

‘I have offered to pay maintenance for my child but Irina has always declined.’

He said that under Latvian law Peter is regarded as the father and he is now trying to get the right to record his name on the birth certificate instead.

He sighed: ‘I just want to see my daughter and hold her. It may take many more months and a lot more money but I’ll never give up fighting.

‘Holly has the right to know who her real father is, her paternal family and her heritage.

‘Hopefully, I’ll have the British authorities on my side now I am Dave, Holly’s dad.’