White couple to keep black twins after IVF mix-up

The white couple who gave birth to black twins after a mix-up at an IVF clinic are to be allowed to keep the children despite continuing uncertainty over their legal status, a judge ruled yesterday.

The other couple involved in the case remain childless despite having had fertility treatment.

Dame Elizabeth Butler Sloss, Britain's most senior family judge, named the clinic where the error happened as the Assisted Conception Unit at Leeds General Infirmary but she retained the ban on identifying the children and the couple. The Leeds unit is among the most successful in the country and had topped the league table with the highest live-birth rate. But there was a suggestion yesterday that it may have taken on too much work.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority imposed conditions on the Leeds clinic's licence, limiting the number of egg collections and embryo transfers.

At a press briefing on the background to the case, Sue Avery, chairwoman-elect of the Association of Clinical Embryologists, said, without naming the Leeds clinic: "If the workload is taken beyond safe limits, that is the point where errors can occur."

Dame Elizabeth, making an interim statement on the case, which first came to light in July, said that no one was suggesting the twins should be uprooted from their "happy and loving" environment with the white couple, Mr and Mrs A, "at any stage".

In the mix-up, sperm taken from Mr B, who was having fertility treatment with his wife at the Leeds clinic, was used to fertilise Mrs A's eggs, giving him a claim to be the legal parent of the twins, with Mrs A. The judge said the next stage in the proceedings, early next year, would be to establish the legal parentage of the twins.

There were no concerns about the twins' welfare and there were no family proceedings before the court, suggesting that both sets of parents had accepted the twins should continue living with Mr and Mrs A. The twins are believed to be aged over two. The error came to light only as the parents became aware that the skin tone of their children was different from their own.

If the judge decides that Mr B is a legal parent of the twins he could request contact with them. Mr B was also not a willing donor of his sperm, raising a question about what remedy he has for its unauthorised use.

The judge said a similar mix-up might have occurred in the treatment of Mr and Mrs B.

Rosemary Carter, former chairwoman of the Family Solicitors Association, said: "We could have a situation where two sets of parents end up with parental responsibility. There will also be the issue of compensation. It is an absolute minefield."

- INDEPENDENT