Madison Burgess
A pregnant woman who had sex with two identical twins has been told the bombshell news that it's impossible to tell who the biological father of her child is.
The extraordinarily unique case, which is thought to be the first of its kind in the UK, has been taken to the Court of Appeal in London by the mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and one of the twins.
They launched the legal action as they want to be legally recognised as having parental responsibility for the baby, known as child P, after the other brother was named as the father on the child's birth certificate.
However, it has not been a simple feat, as the court heard that there is a 50/50 chance that either of the siblings is the father.
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As reported by MailOnline, the twins are understood to have both entered into a casual relationship with the woman in question, without the other being aware of it, after meeting back in 2017.
She went on to become pregnant and give birth to a baby girl in 2018, who is now eight. However, the true identity of her biological father is still unclear, and it may never be revealed.
The publication reports that both brothers slept with the woman during a four-day window in which she is thought to have conceived.
As anyone would do in this situation, DNA paternity tests were carried out, but they were unfortunately of no help as both brothers returned a positive result and believe they are the girl's father.
A panel of judges has now ruled it is 'not possible' to distinguish who the dad is, so the identical twin whose name is on the birth certificate already is due to stay there for now, because it's impossible to prove he is not the biological father.
However, his right to parental responsibility of the girl has been removed until the court hears further arguments.
Despite the DNA testing not working, there is a chance that scientists may be able to solve the mystery in the future; however, this would be expensive and not exactly easy.
In a judgment handed down earlier this month, Sir Andrew McFarlane, sitting with Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Stuart-Smith, said: "It is possible, indeed likely, that by the time P reaches maturity it may be possible for science to identify one father and exclude the other twin, but, for the coming time that cannot be done without very significant cost, and so her ‘truth’ is binary and not a single man."
As per The Guardian, he added: "The failure to prove a fact means that that fact is not proved, it does not mean that the contrary is proved.
"There is a distinction between something being not proven, and making a positive declaration that the fact asserted is not true."
It comes after a previous hearing at the family courts in 2024, which was tasked with answering the impossible question of which twin was likely to be P’s father.
In that case, in which the judge was also unable to make a ruling, said: "They have both claimed her; and they are both pursuing this claim at considerable financial and personal cost, including a cost to their own relationship which, before this issue arose, was close."
And in last month's ruling, McFarlance concluded that the case should now be passed to a lower court to determine if 'either, both, or neither of the twins should now be granted parental responsibility'.