Judgement reserved on IVF mix-up

The twins were born at Leeds General Infirmary

A senior High Court judge asked to decide who is the legal father of mixed-race twins born to a white couple after an IVF sperm mix-up has reserved her judgment.

Family Division President Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, who heard three days of submissions from barristers at London's Law Courts, did not give a date for her ruling.

The two couples at the centre of the mix-up, Mr and Mrs A, who are the white couple, and Mr and Mrs B, the black couple, and the twins, cannot be identified for legal reasons.

The babies were born following a procedural blunder at the Assisted Conception Unit at Leeds General Infirmary between 18 months and two years ago, in which Mr B's sperm was mistakenly used to fertilise Mrs A's eggs.

Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss will not uproot the twins

The judge has been asked to decide whether Mr B, who is the biological father, or Mr A, described as the social and psychological father, is the legal father.

Judith Parker QC, representing Mr B and his wife, told the judge at the start of the hearing: "The issue so far as it relates to my clients is the status of the children; whether their parentage leads Mr A to be regarded as the father for all purposes within the meaning of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990."

The judge stressed at a previous hearing that there was no question of uprooting the twins from their "happy and loving environment" with the white couple.

But she said that, once legal parentage had been established, the black couple involved would need "time to reflect" on what further assistance they might need from the courts.

She said the twins, referred to as Y and Z, "Have been loved by Mr and Mrs A and their wider family from the moment of their birth and nothing that has happened since then will change that".