Serial sperm donor who fathered 180 children loses High Court paternity bid

A serial sperm donor who claimed to have fathered more than 180 children worldwide has failed in his bid to the High Court to be declared the legal father of a child conceived after receiving a £150 Amazon gift voucher for his donation.

Robert Albon, an unregulated donor who promotes his services on social media as “Joe Donor”, claims to have had children in countries as far away as Argentina and Australia. Mr Albon, originally from the US, is in his mid-50s and began acting as an irregular sperm donor in 2013 and moved to the UK in 2020. He has previously appeared on television to discuss his 12 years of donations.

Last October, Mr Albon sought a declaration from the High Court to recognize him as the father of a child identified only as N and born in 2021. The court heard N’s mother began a relationship with a cisgender woman in 2019 and later transitioned to male. The mother’s partner investigated and identified Mr. Albon as a potential donor. She made an initial donation of £100 to the couple’s home, but this donation did not result in a pregnancy.

The second donation, for which she received a £150 Amazon gift card, paved the way for her to become pregnant. Mr Albon was notified of N’s birth and the mother made it clear that this would be their last contact. The mother’s partner was listed as N’s father on the birth certificate; Sir Andrew McFarlane stated that this statement was false and was reported to the police, who “apparently decided not to take any action”. The couple broke up in 2023.

In his judgment, Sir Andrew McFarlane rejected Mr Albon’s application, stating that granting him paternity would be “manifestly contrary to public policy”. He acknowledged that “if a statement were made, the mother would never know when or if Mr Albon would come forward once again and it would be distressing for her.”

He concluded: “I therefore believe that it would be contrary to public policy for the court to grant a paternity declaration naming Mr Albon, treating Mr Albon as N’s father.”

Sir Andrew’s decision was largely based on the findings of a previous case in May last year, in which Mr Justice Poole considered arrangements for another child (California) born in early 2023 after his mother contacted Mr Albon. In that judgment, Mr Justice Poole rejected Mr Albon’s offer of further contact or placement and described him as a man who “lacks empathy” and “seeks to control others” to get his way. He added: “The evidence before the court shows that Mr Albon would have sex with almost anyone who asked or provide his sperm for artificial insemination.”

Sir Andrew noted that Mr Justice Poole’s judgment, which “deserves to be read in its entirety, is highly critical of Mr Albon, who has been described not as a ‘man of self-doubt’ but as someone who left personal turmoil in the wake of his intervention in the lives of often very vulnerable women”.

Based on these findings, Sir Andrew concluded that “there is no indication that Mr Albon’s conduct was subject to any recognized moral principles”. He reiterated that “it would be clearly contrary to public policy to endorse Mr Albon’s activities and his particular interest around the concept of N by making a declaration of parentage in this case.”

The judge concluded that the facts of the case were “extreme” and involved sperm donation “on a completely different scale”. Kingsley Napley family law partner Connie Atkinson, who advised the mother, expressed her delight at the decision: “Although he is the biological father, it would not have been appropriate for him to be able to assert himself as the legal parent or exercise any of the rights that might arise therefrom.”