I want 1,000 children says Britain’s ‘ best’ sperm donor
A FORMER business manager is claiming to be Britain’s most prolific sperm donor after fathering around 800 children.
Simon Watson, 41, who charges £50 per donation, described how he meets women at motorway service stations where they impregnate themselves in public toilets.
He boasts of a 75 per cent success rate and boasts that he wants to sire 1,000 babies by 2020 to create a world record that ‘no one’s going to break’.
His claims reignited concerns yesterday about unlicensed sperm donors and attracted criticism from family campaigners. The self-styled full-time sperm donor, from Luton, Bedfordshire, brushed off criticism of his activities, claiming he provides a valuable service. ‘A lot of people who use private donors don’t have a lot of money. Having said that, I’ve had people who have used fertility clinics with no luck and they come to me and get pregnant first time.’ Few women qualify for artificial insemination on the NHS and private licensed clinics charge between £500 and £1,000.
The former aromatherapy centre business manager, who has three children of his own from two marriages, advertises on Facebook. He estimates more than half of his clients are lesbian couples, while around 40 per cent are single women who haven’t met a suitable partner. The rest are hetero- sexual couples where the man is infertile. On top of his fee he charges expenses to meet customers around the UK or abroad. In an interview with the BBC he said: ‘I reckon I’ve
‘Completely irresponsible’
got about 800 so far, so within four years I’d like to crack 1,000. I’d like to get the world record... make sure no one’s going to break it.’ Human Fer- tilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) regulations state licensed donors can father a maximum of 10 children to avoid the risk of related offspring meeting and starting relationships.But there is no limit on unregulated donors.
Hugh McKinney, of the National Family Campaign, said the limit was imposed for ‘good reasons’ and branded those operating outside the rules ‘completely irresponsible’. He also condemned Mr Watson’s ‘reckless’ boast about aiming for 1,000 children. ‘It is completely unacceptable for him to create a competitive element about how many children he will sire,’ he said.
Critics expressed concern about the impact on the mental health of children who learn they are the product of such liaisons and warned of the risk of inherited disorders.
In an unusual twist, Mr Watson’s ex-wife Zorica, mother to two of his children, cast doubt on her ex-husband’s claim about his donations, saying: ‘It’s not true.’ He insisted: ‘I don’t know why she’d say that, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.’