Sperm donor who fathered 15 children with lesbian mothers hid hereditary disease

A man left mothers ‘traumatized’ after donating sperm to lesbians despite knowing he had a hereditary condition.

James MacDougall, 37, used social media to privately advertise his services to lesbian women who later gave birth to his children, a Derby court heard.

It was then that he was aware he could pass on Fragile X, a genetic condition that can cause learning disabilities, facial disfigurement and cognitive impairment, according to an exclusive report from the Daily Mail.

The condition means MacDougall would not be able to donate sperm through an official donation clinic.

He had taken a case to family court to try to gain parental access to four of the children born from these arrangements.

A 25-year-old woman named only SW had two children now aged two and three by MacDougall after contacting him through an ad, with her firstborn currently being non-verbal and showing ‘difficult’ behavior.

The court heard the woman had difficulty reading a complex legal contract she had signed for him and did not look at the section where he mentioned Fragile X without giving an explanation of the condition.

She contacted him shortly after the child was born and after a number of visits he finally moved into her home during the first national lockdown in early 2020, before being asked to leave in June 2020 .

While at home, he allegedly made sexual comments towards the mother and showered with the child at least twice.

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Judge Ms Justice Lieven described MacDougall as a “complex person” who had learning difficulties and was autistic and suffered from a “profound lack of insight”.

“I don’t consider JM to have any control over his feelings of anger and frustration,” she added.

MacDougall was denied access to their children and the judge took the unusual step of naming him publicly to prevent any other women from using him as a sperm donor.

He was also barred from going to court for the next three years.