A man who mixed his own sperm with his father’s to help his partner get pregnant will not be forced to undergo a paternity test, the High Court has ruled.
The man, identified as PQ because his name cannot be published for legal reasons, and his partner (JK) had fertility problems and could not afford IVF treatment, the court said at a hearing last month. .
As a result, he agreed to mix his sperm with his father’s sperm (RS), which was injected into the woman. Judge Poole was informed that the arrangement was “always intended to be kept secret” and resulted in the birth of a boy (D), now five years old.
However, Barnsley City Council became aware of the circumstances of the boy’s pregnancy as a result of a separate process and launched a legal bid to determine his parentage.
Authorities asked the High Court in Sheffield to order DNA tests to be carried out to determine whether the man was Mr D’s father.
But in a judgment handed down on Thursday, Mr Poole ruled the council had “no stake in the outcome” and rejected the bid.
He told the court: “While the court may want to know who Mr D’s biological father is, it has no stake in the outcome of the application.”
“The desire to preserve the public interest in maintaining accurate records of births confers no personal advantage in determining such applications.”
The judge concluded that while the family may wish to take a paternity test at a later date and tell the child, “that is their problem.”
Throughout the trial, the judge stated that the family had “created a welfare minefield” and said: “I cannot believe that JK, PQ and RS had properly considered the implications of JK’s pregnancy plans. Otherwise, the pregnancy It’s unlikely,” he added. That they would have started on it. ”
She added that the boy is a “unique child who would not have existed but for the unusual arrangements that were made for his conception, which made him mentally ill if he ever found out.” There is also the possibility of damage.”
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Mr Poole said the man and the child had an established parent-child relationship and it was the responsibility of him and the boy’s mother to “manage any potential risks to his welfare”.
It added: “It must be recognized that the circumstances of D’s pregnancy are now irrevocable.”
“Without testing, his biological parentage remains unknown, but to say the least, the person he thinks is his grandfather is his biological father and the person he thinks is his father is his biological half-brother. There is a high possibility that they are siblings.”
PA Media contributed to this report.
