Fertility company 'made £250,000 from sperm donors'

In the first case of its kind, a jury was told Nigel Woodforth, 43, ran the firm from the basement of his home in Reading, Berkshire, with Ricky Gage, 49.

Nearly 800 women signed up to use the online service provided by the company, operating under various names including Sperm Direct Limited and First4Fertility.

Their website introduced would-be donors to women trying to conceive, Southwark Crown Court in central London was told.

Philip Bennetts, prosecuting, said: “In short, the website introduced men who wished to supply sperm to women who wished to use the sperm to impregnate themselves in order to have a child.”

The women, having paid an 80 joining fee and 300 to use the service, would then choose from a list of men before the sperm was delivered to their homes through a courier company at the price of 150 per delivery.

Under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, however, a licence is needed by anyone wanted to “procure, test or distribute” any sperm or eggs. The two defendants are the first to be prosecuted under the Act.

Gage and Woodforth face two charges of procuring gametes intended for human application, both of which they deny.

They are accused of procuring sperm for one woman between March and June 2008, after she filled in an online form with her partner and paid fees to the pair. She received the sperm in June but did not get pregnant.

The couple began to have doubts about the company when the anonymous donor’s name was mistakenly revealed to them, however.

On the second charge, Gage, of Old Bath Road, Sonning, Reading, and Woodforth, of St John’s Road, Reading, are also accused of procuring sperm between October 2007 and November 2008.

The HFEA had told them they would need a licence to operate the company under new rules introduced in July 2007.

The law was brought in to ensure that both donors and women wanting to conceive had access to information and counselling, and to help protect against the risks of diseases including HIV.

Gage and Woodforth were arrested in April 2009 after an undercover police investigation.

A male officer posed first as a potential sperm donor, and then as a woman called Angie Williams, seeking a donor.

The court heard that the pair’s website promised women a “life-changing opportunity”.

Women were allowed to choose the ethnicity, height, hair colour and even hobbies of the sperm donor they wanted to use.

They could then contact the donor themselves and arrange for the delivery of his sperm to their home, either for self-insemination or through IVF.

Papers discovered when their offices at Woodforth’s home were searched revealed that they earned up to 17,000 a month from the business.

A list with details of 792 clients was found, and it was estimated that between October 2007 and November 2008 the pair made nearly 250,000.

Both defendants claim they operated an introduction service and did not need a licence.

The trial continues.