A serial sperm donor who claims to have fathered more than 180 children worldwide has lost a High Court bid to be declared the legal father of a child conceived after he received a £150 Amazon gift card for his donation. Robert Albon, known online as 'Joe Donor', sought a declaration of paternity for a child born in 2021, but Sir Andrew McFarlane dismissed the application as 'manifestly contrary to public policy'.
The court heard that the child's mother and her partner, who later transitioned to male, contacted Mr Albon for sperm donations. The first donation for £100 did not result in pregnancy, but a second donation, for which Mr Albon received a £150 Amazon gift card, led to conception. The mother's partner was registered as the father on the birth certificate, a declaration the judge noted was false and reported to police, who took no action.
Sir Andrew ruled that granting paternity would be unsettling for the mother, as she would never know when Mr Albon might re-emerge. He drew on a previous judgment from May last year, where Mr Justice Poole described Mr Albon as lacking empathy and seeking to control others. That judgment noted Mr Albon would 'have sex with, or provide his sperm for artificial insemination, to just about anyone who asks'.
The judge concluded there was no indication that Mr Albon's behaviour was governed by recognised moral principles, and that his sperm donation activities were on a 'wholly different scale'. Connie Atkinson, a family law partner at Kingsley Napley who advised the mother, welcomed the decision, stating that while Mr Albon is the biological father, it would not be appropriate for him to assert legal parentage.
