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A prolific unregulated donor is still attempting to sell his sperm despite warnings from two family court judges, a Guardian investigation has found.
Robert Albon, who calls himself “Joe Donor”, has appealed to the courts to gain access to at least four of his biological children against their mothers’ wishes. In a rare move, a judge named him in 2023 to warn women of the risks of using his services, which he promotes on social media.
Albon, who has appeared on This Morning and in a Channel 4 documentary, claims to have fathered 180 children around the world, including the US – his home country – Australia, South America and the UK.
In three family court cases involving four children with different mothers in England and Wales, Albon has sought a number of different court orders allowing him access to the children – including gaining custody of one and changing another’s name. This is despite previously stating: “Moms I help can choose no contact and I respect that.”
In most cases it was in firm opposition to their mothers’ wishes, with a former partner of one of the women describing his involvement as “a nightmare and a horror story”, and another saying she had been left “broken” and suicidal by her interactions with him.
Three of his attempts have been rejected by judges, while another case at the high court is ongoing.
Albon previously told a judge he had stopped advertising his services but the adverts, reading “Contact Joe now to get pregnant” and “Joe Donor same day baby batter delivery”, stayed on his social media, and the Guardian can reveal he is still offering to sell his sperm when contacted through Instagram.
In communications with the 54-year-old, the Guardian posed as a woman seeking a sperm donation. Albon said he would travel to Leeds for sex with the woman, costing £20 to cover travel, or he could also “ship the sample” at a cost of £100. He added: “Is it possible to see a picture?”
Unregulated donations are not subject to the same legal protections as those organised by an accredited clinic, where donors are kept on an anonymous register that is only accessible to the child when they reach 18.
The warnings from judges came in two family court hearings, in Wales and the north-east of England.
In 2023, Albon took a same-sex couple to court in Cardiff to try to get his name put on the birth certificate of a child born in 2021 after impregnation with a syringe of his sperm. He also sought parental responsibility, court-ordered time with the child, including building up to overnight stays, and to be able to change the child’s name to a first name of his choosing and his last name – something the judge described as “frankly absurd” and said was “motivated by ownership and perceived, and rather old-fashioned, entitlement”.
He made the application despite being “a stranger” to the child, who he had met for a photo two years earlier in a “one-off”, 10-minute meeting, the court was told.
The judge rejected his claims, saying the “risk of harm is too great, because of the character and mindset of [Albon], to allow such contact”, and took the rare step of naming him, saying it was in the public interest “to protect women from the potential consequences of unregulated sperm donorship, generally, but also from Joe Donor himself”.
In a written judgment, Jonathan Furness KC said: “Women and children appear to be almost a commodity to him as he sets about increasing the number of his children around the globe.”
Earlier this year, in a case at the Middlesbrough family court involving two separate mothers in north-east England, Albon again sought parental responsibility and face-to-face time with one of the children, and took a further step of applying for custody of the other, despite the fact his name did not appear on the birth certificate of either child.
Albon told the judge in Middlesbrough he had stopped advertising his services but, in a legal judgment in May, which denied him access to the children, Mr Justice Poole said it was “shown not to be true”.
He added: “I think there is a compulsive element to what he is doing that Robert himself does not understand, and this makes it difficult for him to step away from being an unregulated sperm donor.
“Despite the difficulties he has encountered in the UK, this does not seem to have evoked any real doubt in his mind about whether he should continue.”
Poole quoted a social worker who had assessed Albon and found he “‘targets vulnerable women’ and preys on their urge to have a baby ‘to achieve his goal of having an unlimited amount of children’.”
He said Albon “lacks empathy and only has superficial relationships with others” and that he “seeks to control others to prove that he is right, to secure recognition, to get his own way and to serve his own ends”.
This controlling behaviour, the judge said, was demonstrated in how he “uses ambiguity to manipulate”, allowing him to later decide whether he wants access to the children. “In many cases he chooses not to do so, but in others he does, as it suits him.”
A number of women he had been involved with had mental health issues and low IQs and, in one case, the judge said a referral was made to police after concerns were raised that he had had sex with a woman not capable of giving consent, which was not pursued further by police. “These are women whom he can seek to control,” the judge said.
Police and social services have also been called to eject him from the homes of two women after domestic disputes, court documents show.
Albon has numerous children from former relationships overseas, including two children with a Japanese woman and two with a Chinese woman, both families from whom he is estranged.
If he returns to the US, there is a risk he will be detained as there is a warrant for his arrest over unpaid child maintenance amounting to thousands of dollars.
Albon did not respond to a request for comment.
