A MAN who donated his sperm to a lesbian couple has said he vows to fight for a change in the law after being forced to pay child support.

Andy Bathie, a fireman who lives in the Hoe Lane area of Enfield, says he will mount a legal challenge to avoid having to continue to pay for the two children now the lesbian couple has split up.

Natalie Gamble, one of the UK's leading experts in fertility law, said: "If Andy had donated his sperm to a heterosexual couple he would never have been named the father of the children.

"If they had broken up the couple would be financially responsible."

In a twist of fate, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill currently going through Parliament will soon make both members of same-sex couples legally responsible for the children they bring up.

But Mr Bathie wants the law to be made retrospective to apply to his case.

Terri Arnold, 25, who is married to Sharon Arnold, had a girl and a boy after Mr Bathie agreed to take part in home insemination to avoid the cost of a private fertility clinic.

Mr Bathie, 37, had been friends with the couple and had dated Sharon when she was 17.

But he was horrified when the Child Support Agency (CSA) contacted him in 2006 to seek payment, saying he was still considered the legal father.

Mr Bathie, who gets paid £1,700 a month, said: "With the mortgage, council tax and CSA deductions, one of them doesn't get paid.

"They (the couple) said (my name) would not go on the birth certificate, I would not be daddy, and no CSA.

"Seventy to 80 per cent of public opinion is on my side and hopefully we can use that to get the law changed."

Terri said: "I was informed by the CSA that if I did not give the father's details my income support would be cut down and I would not be able to afford to live."

The couple has since claimed that Mr Bathie has been involved in the upbringing of the children, giving them presents, and staying at the house overnight, a claim which Mr Bathie denies.