IT took six years for single mum Maria Benjamin to prove that her ex-partner fathered her daughter Shannon after he faked a paternity test.

But six months after finally seeing justice done in the courts, Maria, 40, has yet to receive a single penny from Paul Robinson.

Despite contacting the Child Support Agency on five separate occasions, no action has been taken to chase up maintenance payments from the 43-year-old mechanic.

Maria, who lives in Sholing, Southampton, on state benefits, says her six-year-long ordeal is continuing with not even a letter of apology from the CSA.

"All I want is for them to say sorry. I was called a liar by staff when I called for a second paternity test to be carried out.

"They just didn't want to know. Now everytime I try to phone up it takes ages to get through.

"When I do manage to speak to someone they say my case is being dealt with by a different person."

"I am constantly passed from pillar to post between different offices in Basingstoke, Bristol and Plymouth."

As the Daily Echo reported in January Robinson was sentenced to 12 months in prison for faking a paternity test taken just 20 days after Shannon was born at Southampton's Princess Anne Hospital in March 1997.

A blood sample was taken at The Jubilee Surgery in Titchfield but by mistake it was given back to Robinson, rather than being sent straight to a CSA approved diagnostic centre.

This gave Kwik Fit fitter Robinson a chance to swap a friend's blood sample with his own.

However, his deceit came to light when he started bragging to colleagues at Kwik Fit in Fareham that he had managed to trick the CSA.

Now Robinson is living in Portsmouth and working as a mechanic after being released seven weeks ago on the condition that he was electronically tagged.

Despite his deception, Maria still lets Robinson - who also has two other children with his ex-wife - see Shannon once a week.

A spokesman for the CSA said: "We cannot comment on individual cases.

"If maintenance is owing and the partner looking after the child is on state benefits, the CSA is always involved.

"We would urge Maria to contact her caseworker or call the national inquiry line."

But that has come as little comfort to Maria, who said that is exactly what she has been doing.

"I lost my home, job, friends, everything over this.

"It's the CSA's mistake and they should correct it. I am not alone. There are other mothers going through the same nightmare."