The sister of a gay special constable has given birth to a baby boy after acting as a surrogate for her brother and his partner.

Lorna Bradley volunteered when Steven Ponder, 28, from Southampton wanted to start a family with dog handler Pc Ivan Sigston, 43.

Both men were at the birth of William Campbell Ponder-Sigston in June.

Mr Sigston provided the sperm but did not put himself down as the father so the couple must adopt William.

The family said they were "shocked" when the story appeared in a national newspaper.

'Legal guardian'

Mother-of-three Mrs Bradley, 31, from Worthing, West Sussex, declined to go into detail about the arrangement but said they knew the story might leak out.

She said: "It's a bit shocking because we didn't know it was going to be in the paper. We are just thinking about what we are going to do at the moment.

"We knew there was a chance that it was going to get out but we would rather have some time to think about commenting.

"There is a lot of us involved in it so we have all got to discuss it."

A spokesman for the force declined to comment, saying it was a private matter.

Surrogacy UK said that under current law, it is not a binding surrogacy arrangement and as Mrs Bradley's is the only name on the birth certificate, she is William's legal guardian.

A standard arrangement would involve a couple applying for a parental order within six months of the child's birth.

At present same-sex couples cannot apply for a parental order but have to go through the adoption process.

article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hampshire/8170992.stm