Baby's astonishing escape after he is run over by train

By Richard Shears

Last updated at 11:03 AM on 16th October 2009

A six-month-old baby boy has escaped with just a bump on the head after he and his pram were run over by a train.

Astonishing video footage shows the pram rolling off the edge of a station platform before it is struck and run over by the 250-ton vehicle.

The child's mother can be seen making a frantic grab for the buggy as it accelerates towards the track at the suburban railway station in Melbourne.

But she is unable to stop it plummeting over the egde and can only watch in horror as her child is apparently crushed by the train and its carriages.

Her frantic, despairing movements, with her hands to her head, left no doubt that she feared her baby had been killed.

Other passengers ran to her help as she cried out in shock.

Yet the baby survived with nothing more than a bump on his head - a survival that senior police and railway officials were describing as 'a miracle'.

Video footage from a security camera - obtained by Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper - captured the whole incident as the mother, who had been momentarily distracted, made a frantic grab for the three-wheeler pram as it rolled out of her reach.

  

The carriage rolls to the edge of the platform - and, as the mother realises what is happening and darts toward it, topples onto the tracks - directly into the path of the oncoming train

 

Still believing the baby is dead, workmen struggle to get him out from underneath the train

It toppled onto the tracks - and seconds later the 250-ton train came into the station at 30mph, ploughed into the  pram and dragged it and the child along underneath the front carriage.

No-one on the platform who saw the incident believed the child had survived.

But when ambulance officers arrived a few minutes later they were astounded to find that not only had the unnamed baby survived - but he was safely back in his relieved mother's arms.

Mr Jon Wright, an intensive care paramedic with Ambulance Victoria, said: 'All he needed, apparently, was a feed and a nap.'

 

Miracle: The mother clutches her son, wrapped in a white blanket, to her after the astonishing escape

The incident came a few days after the local rail network warned parents to be more vigilant when using the popular three-wheel prams, which roll easily.

'This narrow escape just shows how careful parents have to be,' said Mr Wright.

'Luckily the baby was strapped into his pram at the time, which probably saved his life. I think the child's extremely lucky.'

'This is an amazing escape,' said a police spokeswoman. 'It could have been so much worse.'

The train driver has been offered counselling.

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Oklahoma Couple Charged With Locking Boy in Closet for Years

 

Thursday, October 15, 2009

OKLAHOMA CITY —  The mother of an Oklahoma boy who says he was locked in apartment closets over four years was charged Thursday with 29 counts of child abuse for allegedly torturing and imprisoning him.

Prosecutors allege that LaRhonda McCall, 37, and her friend, Steve Vern Hamilton, 38, beat the boy repeatedly — with "fists, bike chains, cables, extension cords, and/or boards," leaving permanent scars. Hamilton is charged with 24 counts of child abuse.

The charges also allege McCall tortured her son in various ways. She once allegedly tied him naked to a ladder and pouring sugar water over him in order to attract insects. Another time, the charges allege, she poured alcohol on him and lit it on fire, burning the boy. She also allegedly forced him to stand barefoot in the snow for more than 45 minutes.

McCall and Hamilton were being held in the Oklahoma County jail on $400,000 bond each. Charging documents did not list an attorney for Hamilton or McCall, and the Oklahoma County prosecutor's office did not immediately return a call left after hours Thursday.

The boy, malnourished and covered in bruises and scars, sought help from a security guard at a National Guard armory on Sept. 25. The teen told police he spent most of the last 4 1/2 years locked inside bedroom closets at various apartments where the family lived and never attended school or received medical attention, authorities said.

The teenager's 18-year-old sister, Jaleasa McCall, told The Associated Press last month that she would bring her brother food and sympathy, but didn't have the courage to contact the authorities.

The boy and his six younger siblings have been placed in Department of Human Services custody.

Managers of the last two apartment complexes where the family most recently lived said they occasionally saw some of McCall's seven other children but never saw the teenage boy.

McCall was convicted of second-degree manslaughter in New York in 1996 in the death of her 2-year-old daughter and served six months jail time. Prosecutors in that case alleged McCall, who then went by LaRhonda Presley, essentially starved the toddler who died in February 1995, according to a New York grand jury indictment obtained by the AP.

 

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Red-hot piece of space junk crashes through pensioner's roof

 

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 8:24 AM on 16th October 2009

  

Pensioner Peter Welton was amazed when a piece of red-hot debris crashed through his roof in July. Now experts have confirmed the object had travelled hundreds of miles from outer space.

The 75-year-old had been in his bedroom when he heard a smash and found the football-sized lump of extra terrestrial debris in the loft of his home in Hull.

The great-grandfather said: 'It was a hell of a shock. If it had landed in the street and hit anybody it would have killed them.'

 

Experts believe the 4lb dark grey object had been orbiting Earth for at least a decade

As it was too hot to handle he brought it downstairs using oven gloves.

The 4lb dark grey object was removed by Humberside Police before being taken away by the Ministry of Defence for investigation.

Mr Welton and wife Mair, 62, then received a phone call from the RAF, who said the metal mass was most likely to be space junk. This could mean anything from part of a spacecraft to a piece of abandoned satellite.

RAF spokesman Squadron Leader Jeff Brock confirmed the finding, which was the first the RAF's Defence Flying Complaints Investigation Team had encountered.

He said: 'Following consultations with the European Space Agency and Nasa, we are confident the object is more than likely space debris which was orbiting in excess of a decade.

'This is the first bit of space debris that we have got our hands on - we have never until this occasion had anything relating to it at all.'

 

Peter Welton, 76, was in his home is Hull when the space debris slammed into his loft

The DFCIT, based in Henlow, in Bedfordshire, investigates complaints related to military flying. Experts initially thought the object may have come from an aircraft.

However, its size and appearance was found to be 'entirely consistent' with space junk, and its heavy mass meant it was more likely to have been in a state of decaying orbit for a decade or more.

Russia (then the Soviet Union) put the first object into space just 51 years ago - Sputnik One. Since then we have created a swarm of perhaps tens of millions of items of space junk. The debris ranges in size from paint flecks to defunct satellites.

The oldest piece of space junk still circling is the Vanguard 1 communications satellite that was launched by the U.S in 1958, but stopped working in 1964.

 

The 4lb piece of debris fell to Earth and landed in West Hull

Most hug close to the surface, 200-300 miles up in low-earth-orbit, where they are a hazard to telescopes and the astronauts on the International Space Station.

Most debris will eventually burn up in the atmosphere, but larger objects can reach the ground intact. Most have come down over the Pacific Ocean or sparsely populated areas.

There has only been one recorded incident of a person being hit by human-made space debris. In 1997, Lottie Williams from Oklahoma was hit in the shoulder by a 5.1" piece of blackened metal. It was later confirmed to be part of the a rocket fuel tank launched the year before. Luckily she was not injured.

Despite narrowly escaping being hit, Mrs Mair said she was excited to hear the experts' findings.

'I think it's wonderful,' she said.

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Berlin 'green' brothel offers discounts to cyclists

 

A brothel in Berlin has leapt on the "green" bandwagon by offering discounts to clients who can prove they arrived by public transport or bicycle.

Published: 10:47AM BST 16 Oct 2009

"Everyone's a winner," explained Regina Goetz, a former prostitute who runs the "Maison d'envie" (House of Desire) brothel in Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg, a district in the former East Berlin.

"The environment is a topic on everyone's lips and it's pretty difficult to park around here. So we came up with the idea of an 'eco discount' of five euros (£4.50) to anyone who leaves the car at home," Ms Goetz told AFP.

 the crisis has slashed our turnover in half in the last year," the 56-year-old said.

But the green discounts have proved a roaring success and got business back on track, she said.

Fifteen minutes in the brothel costs 25 euros rather than 30 euros for environmentally-conscious punters, around 10 per cent of whom have taken up the offer.

To qualify for the discount, "clients who come by bike show their helmet or their padlock keys," she said. "Others hand in their ticket or monthly pass if they have come on the bus."

Prostitution is a legal sector in Germany with around 400,000 employees.

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Drug addict who laughed as he allowed a three-year-old girl to smoke cigarettes sentenced to 18 months in jail

 

By Paul Sims

Last updated at 10:17 AM on 16th October 2009

 

Graeme Conroy was today jailed for 18 months after encouraging a three-year-old girl to smoke cigarettes

A man forced a girl of three to smoke a chain of cigarettes and then filmed her begging: 'Can I have another one?'

A court was shown a series of shocking images of Graeme Conroy handing the crying child cigarette after cigarette.

The 31-year-old was seen laughing and cracking jokes as his tiny victim repeatedly inhaled.

At one point, someone in the background is heard saying: 'She'll smoke it all herself.'

By the time Conroy had finished filming, the child had smoked five cigarettes.

Conroy was caught when a parent who was shown the footage called in the police. Last night, he was starting an 18-month prison sentence after admitting child neglect.

While there, he ordered another child, a girl of 14, to film the images on her mobile phone as a joke.

The distressing footage has not been released to protect the younger child's identity.

The 14-year-old told police that when she arrived at the house Conroy boasted of how the three-year-old had already smoked two cigarettes.

'He said "Watch this",' the girl said. 'She, like, had a tab. I was told to video it so I did.

'She had another one, then finished that one and said, "Can I have another one'.

'He said "aye". I stopped recording. He was like, it was dead funny.

'He said "Finish it" and she put it out in the ashtray. Then she said "Can I have another one". He said "you've had enough" and she started crying so he gave her one.

'She was inhaling it and everything. It looked like she had smoked before, she was inhaling and she knew what to do.'

The girl added: 'Graeme didn't tell her what to do, she just knew what to do.'

Conroy, a drug addict, even bragged he had given the girl cannabis, but tests on her hair ruled it out.

Further tests showed that although the girl's chest was clear, she suffered from wheezing, Newcastle Crown Court was told.

Judge David Wood said Conroy, of Ashington in Northumberland, had shown a complete disregard for the girl's safety.

'You evidently thought it would be funny if she was allowed to smoke cigarettes and you could take a video of what was going on,' he said.

'I expect you realise now this was not funny at all.

'This sort of conduct could be very damaging to a child's health and could have all sorts of effects on her future health. You have completely disregarded her safety and endangered her.'

Amanda Sandford, from Action on Smoking and Health, said: 'It beggars belief that an adult could do that to a child. This is a form of child abuse.

'The child would be at huge risk of being poisoned by the toxins in cigarettes and smoking so many at such an age could do irreparable damage.'

Detective Inspector Ron Cruikshanks, of Northumbria Police, said: 'This was an appalling case of neglect and ill treatment against a child who is little more than a baby.'

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Michigan Man Sentenced for Biting 5-Year-Old's Face

 

Thursday, October 15, 2009

MUSKEGON, Michigan —  A man has been sentenced to 45 days in jail for biting the face of his girlfriend's 5-year-old son.

Randall Kirk McGee pleaded no contest last month to third-degree child abuse. The 37-year-old was sentenced Tuesday in Muskegon County Circuit Court.

Police say McGee bit the boy on Feb. 11. The child's mother, Renae Baker, says her son bit McGee while McGee was trying to help the boy brush his teeth. She says McGee bit back.

School officials contacted Child Protective Services and police after noticing the bite marks. Authorities say the boy said it was the only time McGee had physically hurt him.

Baker told The Muskegon Chronicle in an earlier interview that McGee's biting was a nonabusive "act of discipline."

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A terrible wound on her chest and a profound sense of something missing... why Holly will always be scarred by the loss of her Siamese twin

 

By Rachael Woolston 

Last updated at 10:25 AM on 16th October 2009

Survivor: Holly Reich has had to cope with the grief and guilt of losing her twin

When you meet Holly Reich, you would never guess her secret.

At 24, she is a slim, pretty brunette, recently graduated from university and with a bright future.

It's only when she wears a bikini on the beach that the jagged pink scar that runs down from her chest to her navel hints at her extraordinary, and poignant, story.

For Holly was born a Siamese twin, and the operation to separate her from her sister Carly as tiny babies was the first of its kind carried out at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

The girls' bodies had been fused from their sternum to navel, which meant they had shared part of their intestine, one large liver and the protective membrane around their hearts.

Their parents, Gillian and Ronnie, had had no idea they were having conjoined twins and had only discovered they were expecting two babies a week before the birth.

In earlier scans, one baby had been hidden behind the other. Despite being born full term on March 1, 1985, Holly and Carly weighed 4lb each, with Carly suffering a hole in the heart and jaundice.

Surgeons had wanted to wait until the babies were stronger before separating them, but the complications meant they had to operate after just three days.

Both the heart sac and liver were surgically separated. As the liver can regenerate itself, this enabled them to function independently of each other.

And that's not to mention the complicated matter of separating the skin of the torsos.

In the 12-hour procedure, both sisters nearly died from blood loss. In the weeks that followed, Holly rallied, but her sister gradually faded away and died of heart complications six weeks later.

Even now, 24 years since they were separated, and even though she has no memories of her twin, Holly feels that without Carly she is missing part of herself.

'It's at important moments in my life that I miss her most,' says Holly. 'Rightfully, she should be there to experience these things with me. People often wonder what it's like to be a surviving Siamese twin, and I tell them I'm always aware of this gap in my life where she should be.

'Mum says that even after we'd been separated, we would smile or cry at the same time, as if we were still connected - I guess a bond like that is impossible to break.'

While it's estimated that one in 200,000 births is conjoined - which occurs when a single egg containing identical twins fails to divide properly - fewer than 20 per cent go on to survive, making Holly a one-in-a-million medical rarity.

'I'm always aware of this gap in my life where she should be'  

 

'I don't know when I first became aware that I was this rare case,' she says. 'Although there were no lasting health complications for me, I was left with a deep scar from chest to navel, so there was no ignoring it.

'I suppose it's just something I've always been aware of, like someone who has red hair and freckles.'

Holly's parents had kept photographs of her and Carly before they were separated to help explain her unusual start in life, but there was also a BBC documentary, Their Lives In Our Hands, in 1986 which focused on the first year of Holly's life.

'I was seven when we first watched it as a family,' she says. 'I'd see my older sister, Lori, who was only three at the time, on the screen and get really excited, but I didn't fully understand. It was like watching a film of someone else's life.'

But it sparked a deeper awareness of her missing sister. 'The following year, I went through a phase of having a secret imaginary friend,' she says. 'Looking back, I think it was meant to be Carly.

 

Conjoined: Holly and Carly shortly after they were born

'In many ways, she really was like an imaginary friend. Although she was a massive part of my life, she would never be there in reality.

'I was very close to my older sister, Lori, but I knew my relationship with Carly would have been particularly special. It was difficult to comprehend the feeling of missing someone I'd never properly known.'

It wasn't until Holly was 12 and other children started asking about her scar that she became properly aware of being different.

'My parents had never treated me as if I was special, or tried to wrap me up in cotton wool,' she says.

'I felt sadness that my sister had died and a pang of guilt for being the one who had survived'

'I was a tomboy and forever climbing trees and playing with Lori in the woods behind our house.

'Looking back, it must have been hard for my parents to let go and let me run free after I'd been in hospital for the first year of my life. But it meant that I never felt there was anything unusual about me - except for the ugly red scar that zigzagged vertically down my torso.

'The worst moments were always when I was getting changed for PE lessons. I tried to hide it, but the other girls would notice, and that's when the whispers and stares would start.

'If anyone asked, I'd say I'd had an accident, because I didn't really understand what had happened to me, but I knew I'd be gossiped about if anyone knew the truth. That's the first time I began to resent what had happened. At that age, I just wanted to blend in and be like everyone else.'

Yet Holly's curiosity about her birth deepened, and that year she turned to the BBC documentary again for more information. 

'This time, I watched it by myself in my bedroom,' she says. 'It was as if I was watching it for the first time because all of a sudden, the enormity of what had happened hit me.

'It was so surreal to see these two tiny babies joined together and covered in wires, and realising it was Carly and me. And then I saw a woman sobbing at our bedside - and realised with a horrible jolt that it was my mother.

'Mum said that she'd never even got the chance to hold Carly when she was alive because she'd been hooked up to machines and too unwell. It felt really disorientating to have been part of something so huge - a medical first - and yet I couldn't remember any of it.

'But when I watched the film of Carly's funeral, which took place at the hospital chapel, I really broke down, sobbing. Her coffin was no bigger than a doll's.

'Of course, I felt sadness that my sister had died, but for the first time I felt a pang of guilt for being the one who had survived.

'Afterwards, I ran down to my parents and they hugged me and tried to reassure me. '

Scarred: Holly used to be self-conscious about the mark left by the operation to separate her from Carly

They said they felt blessed that I'd pulled through, and reassured me that Carly had died of heart complications unrelated to our separation.

'That made me feel much better, because I'm not sure how I would have coped if I'd known she'd died because she was separated from me.'

As her acceptance of her birth grew, so too did Holly's fascination with Siamese twins.

Because conjoined twins share the same egg, there is some belief that this can lead to shared behaviour, feelings and even thoughts.

'I've always been a tomboy, I'm outgoing and love getting on stage and singing. I wondered if Carly would have been the same, or would she have ended up being the shy one, and the opposite to me?

'How much would our personalities have been shaped by our genes, compared to how we were raised?

'My mum told me that when I was little, I always slept face down on my pillow, and she'd wondered how I could possibly breathe like that. But Carly and I were conjoined in a way that we faced each other nose to nose, so the closeness of the pillow felt natural.'

'I was proud that Carly and I had been the first twins Professor Spitz had separated, we helped him go on to successfully separate others'

As a child, Holly says she found great comfort in visiting her sister's grave in Essex.

She recalls the first time she saw it: 'It was snowing and everything was covered in a soft, downy white snow,' she remembers. 'It felt so peaceful.

'Carly's grave just had her name written on it very simply, next to my grandfather's grave. It helped to know that she's never alone and that my grandmother visits her every month with fresh flowers.

'It brought it all home to me again how much I had lost - but it also gave me comfort to feel so close to her.'

Yet slowly coming to terms with her background did not quell Holly's self-consciousness, and wherever possible she avoided telling people about the extraordinary explanation for her vivid scars.

'Children could be cruel, and there were sometimes whispers and giggles, but I was never bullied about it.

'I had good friends and most of the time I kept my scar hidden under rollneck sweaters, so most people never actually saw it. And as I got older, those that did thought I'd been in an accident so it wasn't something to tease me about.

'But if you put the term "Siamese twins" into Google, there are lots of references to them being considered freaks, or made to work in circuses in the past. Although I hadn't had any bad experiences, I was worried that's how some people would think of it.'

Perhaps with those thoughts weighing heavy in her mind, when she was 13, Holly decided to undergo cosmetic surgery on the scar. This involved reopening the wound and removing some of the surrounding raised tissue to form a neater, smoother appearance.

'I didn't need to have it done for medical reasons,' she says, 'but I wanted to because it really stood out and I was paranoid about other people noticing.

'I'd always been self-conscious, but when I hit secondary school, there was more emphasis on looking good. It wasn't that I was trying to hide what had happened, but so that I could wear a bikini or even a low-necked top without feeling self-conscious.

'When I'd been stitched up before, it had been done in an emergency so there hadn't been time to make it look less obvious.'

'Now, I look upon my scar with pride, as a battle wound and a reminder of Carly'

 

Once Holly left home in 2004 at the age of 20 to start a psychology degree at university, she faced fresh questions from her new friends.

'Siamese twins are so rare that the news about my birth spread like wildfire around the campus,' she says. 'I'd get drunken male undergraduates asking me about it at parties, and others coming up to me and questioning me.

'I learned the best way to deal with it was to admit it and be open about it. As for boyfriends, I've had a few, but they'd all known about my past without me having to undergo the awkwardness of telling them.

'Thankfully, none of them ever flinched or recoiled at the sight of my scar.

'There will come a time when I'll have to tell a man who doesn't know, but I'm a good enough judge of character not to go for someone who would be put off by it.'

Three years ago, Holly took part in another BBC documentary, this time about her surgeon, Professor Spitz, and the other Siamese twins he'd helped separate.

It was the first time she'd met other surviving conjoined twins. 'It was fascinating to meet them, but seeing other sets of twins did make me feel sad, because all of a sudden I was confronted with what might have been if Carly had survived,' she says, in reaction to the whole experience.

'It was difficult for me to watch them interact with each other; their closeness was so obvious, and in a way it made me feel more alone.

'At the same time, I was proud that Carly and I had been the first twins Professor Spitz had separated, so in a way we had helped him go on successfully to separate so many others.'

Now, Holly is focusing on her future and hopes to work as a criminal profiler.

But, she says, wistfully: 'I think being a surviving Siamese twin makes me more determined to make something of my life, and to make up for the life Carly didn't get the chance to lead.

'It's taken me a long time to come to accept the circumstances of my birth, and to be proud of it. But it's made me who I am.

'Now, I look upon my scar with pride, as a battle wound and a reminder of Carly.

'There were meant to be two of us, and all I can do is to make the

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Mom of Florida Teen Set on Fire Says Ordeal 'Complete Nightmare'

 

Thursday, October 15, 2009

MIAMI  —  The mother of a 15-year-old doused with rubbing alcohol and set on fire called the attack a nightmare on Thursday, but said her son was strong and would pull through despite the burns over much of his body.

Valerie Brewer told NBC's "Today" show and ABC's "Good Morning America" that her son, Michael Brewer, couldn't talk but was communicating with her by motioning with his hands.

"It's a complete nightmare," she said.

Michael Brewer was attacked at a Deerfield Beach apartment complex in South Florida on Monday after turning in another teen for trying to steal his father's bicycle, authorities said.

The teen was expected to remain hospitalized for several months and is at extremely high risk of infection and organ failure, but he is doing as well as can be expected, his doctor said. Valerie Brewer praised the staff at Jackson Memorial Ryder Trauma Center.

Dr. Nicholas Namias said the teen suffered burns on his torso and arms and most of his hair, but his face was not badly burned.

Brewer's troubles started when one of the teens gave him a video game and expected $40, said Broward County Sheriff's Office spokesman Jim Leljedal. Brewer never paid for the game, which authorities would not identify, so the other teen tried to steal a $500 custom bike that belonged to Brewer's father, Leljedal said.

Brewer refused to attend classes at his middle school Monday. His mother said he was "petrified" of going to school, and the teen instead went to an apartment complex to visit a friend. He told deputies that while he was sitting by the swimming pool, he was splashed with rubbing alcohol and set ablaze.

Five teenagers — 15-year-olds Matthew Bent, Denver Jarvis, Steven Shelton and Jesus Mendez and 13-year-old Jeremy Jarvis — were charged with aggravated battery in the attack. Mendez also was charged with attempted second-degree murder because authorities say he flicked the lighter.

Valerie Brewer said she knew the teens, but would not say more because it was "too heart wrenching" to talk about. She asked viewers to help stop childhood violence around the world.

"What they did to my son...we need to stop this now."

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Heartbeat converted into electric current to recharge mobile phones

 

A wristband that converts the human heartbeat into an electric current to recharge mobile phones has been invented by a 15 year old Delhi schoolgirl and is being developed by scientists at Stanford University.

 

By Dean Nelson in New Delhi

Published: 6:00AM BST 16 Oct 2009

Sarojini Mahajan, a pupil at St Marks Senior Secondary School in West Delhi, thought up the concept while looking at her mobile phone and the self-winding watch on her wrist.

"She saw her watch didn't need to be wound or charged, and started to research pulse charging," Anjali Aggarwal, the head teacher at the school, told the Daily Telegraph.

"She took her idea to her science teacher, who forwarded it to our National Innovation Foundation of India," she added.

Although her idea failed to win the institute's top prize, it was commended on its website, which brought it to the attention of Stanford University's chief technology officer, who sent a proposal to develop the idea for commercial use.

The idea is considered to have great potential in both developing countries, where mobile phone use is growing fast but electricity is in short supply, and in developed markets where charger cables are considered a bulky burden.

Miss Mahajan told The Indian Express that the development was "too good to be true" and that she could not believe her "crazy idea" had been picked up by one of the world's leading research universities.

"I thought if we can have watches that run on the human pulse, then why not mobile phones?" she said.

She is now planning a career as a research scientist, she added.

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California Cryobank uses celebrity look-alike sperm donors

 

Herald Sun

October 16, 2009 12:01am

IF you can't have the man of your dreams, don't fret. It is still possible to have a baby who looks a bit like him.

Women who hanker after David Beckham's manly profile or Russell Crowe's rugged charm can now choose a look-alike donor at a sperm bank.

As well as Beckham and Crowe, the California Cryobank claims to have donors who resemble Ben Affleck, Hugh Grant and comedian Ben Stiller, the Herald Sun reports.

There are even two said to look like Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe although, at just 20, you might think he is a little young.

Donor No 11385 on the sperm bank's list is said to be a dead ringer for Beckham, described as a "blond-haired dreamboat".

The service features more than 100 celebrities and sports stars, including some from a bygone age, such as Errol Flynn.

The donors are not named or pictured by the LA-based sperm bank, among the biggest and most popular in the US.

Under US law, donors must remain anonymous and prospective parents are not allowed to see the donor at all.

Instead they are given a brief description of the man's height, build, and hair and eye colour.

The Cryobank believes matching the donor to the face of a celebrity will give mothers-to-be a better idea of what their child could grow up to look like.

But who decides which celebrity goes with which donor? This, apparently, is down to the sperm bank staff, who use a decidedly unscientific method.

Centre spokesman Scott Brown said he and other staff simply put pictures of their sperm donors up on a big screen and debate who the person most looks like.

However, the facility's website warns that choosing a donor who looks like a Hollywood heart-throb doesn't guarantee a child will look exactly the same.

The "celebrity baby bank" process has been criticised by scientists.

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