A UK judge has rejected Robert Albon's application for parental rights over a three-year-old girl he fathered with a woman in Durham. Albon, who claims to have fathered more than 180 children through unregulated sperm donation, had sought custody after the mother was deemed unable to care for the child.
The 54-year-old American, known by the pseudonym 'Joe Donor', has previously appeared on television programmes including This Morning and a Channel 4 documentary. Court documents reveal this is the fourth time he has attempted to gain parental rights over a child he fathered in the UK.
In a judgment released on Wednesday, the family court in Middlesbrough also rejected his application for parental rights over a second girl from the north-east, born in March 2023. The judge described Albon as 'a man who seeks to control' and who treats women as a 'commodity'.
The mother of the three-year-old, who already had seven children, contacted Albon via Facebook in 2021. He asked for a photo before travelling 250 miles for sex. After the encounter, the woman said she felt 'broken' and 'suicidal', accusing him of using the unborn child to obtain benefits and housing.
In the case of the two-year-old, Albon was not named on the birth certificate. The mother, described as 'suggestible' by the judge, only learned his real name after the child was born. Social services assessed her as vulnerable with an IQ of 75.
Albon has fathered children across South America, Australia, and the UK, and has a warrant for his arrest in the US over unpaid child maintenance. In an interview last August, he stated he had about 180 live births and had met around 60 of them.
