UK choose warns girls over sperm donor who fathered 180 kids

A sperm donor who subjected moms to a “nightmare” of controlling behaviour over their youngster has been named by a choose as warning concerning the risks of unregulated sperm donation.

Robert Charles Albon claims to have fathered greater than 180 kids in a number of nations after promoting his sperm donations companies below the identify Joe Donor.

Jonathan Furness KC, sitting as a deputy excessive court docket choose, took the uncommon step of naming him as a mum or dad within the household court docket as a warning to different girls who is likely to be tempted to purchase sperm from him.

In a written judgment he mentioned it was within the public curiosity for Albon to be named, so “susceptible girls who’re curious about such companies ought to absolutely perceive the dangers of turning into concerned with him”.

Albon, an American who lives within the north-east of England, took a same-sex couple to court docket demanding parental rights, together with being named on the start certificates of the kid he had fathered with one of many girls.

Albon had additionally requested for the non-biological mom to be known as “aunty”, regardless of her having been current on the start and being known as “mom” by the kid.

Rejecting his calls for, the choose mentioned Albon’s actions have been “wrapped up in a veneer of looking for to guard the welfare of (the kid)” however in actuality, he was a person who “seeks to regulate”.

The court docket heard the couple meant Albon to don’t have any future involvement till the kid requested about their paternity and expressed a need to see him.

Albon’s commercials urged he would “depart it as much as the mom as as to if there must be any contact” and had solely seen the kid as soon as for a photograph, in a gathering that lasted not more than 10 minutes.

Furness additionally rejected Albon’s allegations that he and the organic mom had secretly had intercourse behind a automotive.

The court docket heard the proceedings had resulted in a breakdown within the couple’s relationship however each moms continued desirous to be mother and father to the kid, with care cut up between them. The case additionally prompted the organic mom’s psychological well being to endure, the court docket heard.

The choose mentioned: “Ladies and kids seem like virtually a commodity to him as he units about growing the variety of his kids across the globe.”

The case, which was first reported by the BBC, was heard at Cardiff household court docket in late 2023, when Albon was 52, however the written judgment has solely not too long ago been printed.

The choose mentioned Albon had pursued the case as a “means to regulate” or “punish” the moms.

He mentioned this and an analogous case “highlights the necessity for girls to know the dangers which they expose themselves to in approaching unlicensed, unregulated, and unofficial sperm donors”.

Each girls supported naming Albon. The non-biological mom mentioned the world wanted to know the dangers related to unregulated sperm donation, calling the two-year court docket battle a “nightmare” and a “horror story”.

Neither lady opposed one annual e mail or card every year to the kid from Albon below so-called “letterbox contact”, with the objects saved for when the kid is ready to perceive them.

In an interview with the Solar final yr, Albon mentioned he had been a donor for about 13 or 14 years and had fathered about 180 kids.

He mentioned he presents to ship or deliver semen to girls or have intercourse with them, describing his companies as his “particular interest” and he’s “all the time on name and prepared to assist”.