Sperm donor to lesbian women ‘hid his incurable, hereditary illness’

‘Fragile X’ sufferer fathered 15 babies despite having syndrome that causes low IQ and development issues

A JUDGE has taken the rare step of naming a sperm donor who fathered 15 children with lesbian women without disclosing his Fragile X syndrome.

James Macdougall, 37, went ahead with private sperm donations despite knowing that he suffered from the inheritable condition, which leads to low IQ and developmental delay, and cannot be cured.

Mrs Justice Lieven said Macdougall’s children, born after he advertised on a social media page for lesbian women seeking donors, are aged between three years and a few months old.

Despite signing an agreement that he did not want contact with some of his children, Macdougall applied to the Family Court for parental responsibility and child arrangements orders, allowing him to see four of them. Three mothers opposed this.

The judge, sitting at Derby, forbade him from applying to the court for the next three years because of his lack of insight into his conduct, and because it would be traumatising to the mothers.

He chose to be a sperm donor despite knowing he could not go through a clinic because he has Fragile X syndrome, she said, and she had no confidence he would not act as a sperm donor in future.

She also had no confidence in him fully explaining to any women the true implications of his condition.

A 25-year-old woman named only as SW contacted Macdougall after seeing his advert, and her child R, now three, was born in October 2018 followed by a second child, P, now aged one.

He gave her a three-page document in highly legalistic language which was difficult to read, said the judge, stating he would have no rights over the child and no right to contact the child. The document also said he had Fragile X syndrome without explaining what this meant. SW, who has problems reading, said she did not read that far into the agreement, the judge said.

After the birth, SW contacted Macdougall, who visited his baby daughter often, and she became pregnant with a second child. Macdougall lived at her home during lockdown before she asked him to leave in June 2020.

She claimed he made sexual comments to her, rubbed up against her, and showered with the toddler at least twice, which she found inappropriate.

She has not seen him since an incident on June 25, 2020, when he was arrested for attacking her and leaving her with bruising on her neck and back, and he has never met P, who was born in December 2020. The three-year-old is not verbal and her behaviour is challenging. Macdougall is also the sperm donor father of L, who was born in January 2021, and B, a boy who was born in July 2018 just months before he started a relationship with his mother, KE.

Macdougall won a court order from a different court allowing him to have regular contact with B although the child has returned from contact with Macdougall with non-accidental bruises, said Mrs Justice Lieven. The judge adjourned the case until she received a report from social services.

The judge found that Macdougall was a complex person, with learning difficulties and on the autistic spectrum. He had little empathy, quickly became agitated, aggressive and lost control when not getting his way and there was evidence of him ringing or contacting people many times if they do not do what he wants, the judge said.

The judge branded EG, another woman he was a sperm donor too, and SW irresponsible for using him as a donor without making proper inquiries but accepted that EG was desperate for a child.

Fragile X syndrome is a genetic disorder which causes mild to moderate intellectual disability. Physical features include a long and narrow face, large ears and large testicles.