A legal case concerning the paternity of a child whose mother had sexual intercourse with identical twins within four days has left the Court of Appeal unable to identify the biological father.
The child, referred to as P in court documents, was initially registered with one twin as the father. However, the other twin, along with the mother, challenged this registration in an attempt to assume parental responsibility.
Sir Andrew McFarlane, Lady Justice King, and Lord Justice Stuart-Smith ruled that while DNA testing confirms either twin could be the father, it cannot distinguish between them, leaving a 50% chance that the correct father is already registered.
Sir Andrew stated: 'Currently the truth of P’s paternity is that their father is one or other of these two identical twins, but it is not possible to say which.' He noted that future scientific advancements might resolve the issue, but for now, the mother's 'truth' is binary and not a single man.
The court ordered that the twin currently on the birth register will have his parental responsibility suspended until further arguments are heard, but declined to make a positive declaration that he is not the father, emphasising that a failure to prove a fact does not mean the contrary is proved.
