The Lion, The Switch, and the Cuckoo: Adultery in a test tube

With special guest:

• Jonathan Grindon

A cuckoo has achieved its notoriety due to its practice of laying its eggs in the nests of other species, tricking parent birds into raising unrelated offspring when they hatch. Our guest today is Jonathan Grindon who due to the deception of his then wife, Annette, experienced firsthand that this behaviour is not confined to the animal kingdom.

This is not the usual way that husbands may be cuckolded. Jonathan was a sperm donor, the biological mother is an unknown Spanish woman and the embryo was placed in the womb of Annette. But wait, it was revealed some six years later that in fact the sperm had been substituted, the biological father of the child was not Jonathan at all but a previous boyfriend of Annette’s who happened to be in the vicinity of the IVF clinic when they were implanting the seed.

Not knowing any of this at the time, Jonathan separated from Annette when the child Timothy was about 18 months old and they then followed a shared care routine familiar to many divorced couples. Jonathan paid child support of some £10,000 annually. He saw Timothy regularly for the next five years until Annette started to become more and more difficult over access, throwing constant obstacles in the way of Jonathan’s visits. When Jonathan tried the legal avenue to gain more time with Timothy, Annette dropped the bombshell about Timothy’s biological paternity.

After recovering from the initial shock of this discovery Jonathan pursued an action in fraud against Annette to make him feel a little less used. However the legal system in the UK also let him down. Although he won the case and gained an order for recovering some of his child support and some of his legal costs the end result he sought of being part of Timothy’s life is not a right he can enjoy. Timothy continues to live with Annette even though she has no biological connection with the child and Jonathan is limited to sending Timothy a card once a month which he doubts Timothy is allowed to read.

Jonathan’s love for Timothy is as strong and fatherly as ever even though he has not seen or heard from Timothy for over two years. Jonathan has to make do with bitter-sweet memories hidden away in the bedroom he keeps as a shrine to his one-time son, hoping for a reunion when Timothy turns 18. In the meantime Jonathan has written his eBook available on Kindle called The Lion, The Switch and the Cuckoo - Adultery in a test tube and is lobbying authorities in the religious community as well as politicians.

This is such a bizarre story, a heartbreaking story of wicked deception that caused a media storm in the UK. In our show today you get a chance to hear from the central player how this could possibly have happened and how it should be a warning for many Dads in the community.

Jonathan Grindon

Jonathan is a University lecturer living in the UK. Due to Court Orders some names have been changed in the interview and the description above.

Song selection by our guest: Billie Jean by Michael Jackson

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