CPS spokesperson, Christian Meikle, said, “The Crown Prosecution Service has decided to charge Barrie Drewitt-Barlow and Scott Drewitt-Barlow following a police investigation into alleged human trafficking for sexual exploitation and rape.
“Barrie Drewitt-Barlow and Scott Drewitt-Barlow have each been charged with arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view to exploitation, as well as other sexual offences, including rape.
“We have worked closely with Essex Police as it carried out its investigation.” Both were to appear before Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court today.
In 1999 Barrie Drewitt-Barlow and his then civil partner, Tony, who is not implicated in the police investigation, were reported to have “made history” as the first gay couple in Europe to obtain a child through surrogacy after procuring twins.
In 2021, Drewitt-Barlow “made history” again, along with his by then ex-civil partner, Tony, and his at the time fiancé Scott Hutchinson, when the trio announced that they would become the parents of triplets.
All three men are reported to have provided sperm for the IVF procedure, saying that they wished to see all of their names on the children’s birth certificates.
“It is the most incredible feeling. We are thrilled. Family is everything,” said Barrie to The Sunday Times.
“I am as excited about this pregnancy as I was about the first. I never thought I would be going down this road again, but I’m so in love with Scott and have so enjoyed having Valentina that when Scott said he’d love to do it again, I jumped at the chance. And here we are, pregnant yet again. I love it,” Barrie Drewitt-Barlow said of the arrangement.
“We see ourselves simply as a family. That’s what we are, and we love the way our life is and the bubble we have created to keep our children safe and happy,” he said.
“If I have three children, we will have parent one, two, and three and I will challenge the law again,” he stated in a 2021 interview with the Sunday Times.
After the 1999 surrogacy arrangement, he and Tony became the first people in the UK to be listed as “parent one” and “parent two” on the babies’ birth certificates instead of the traditional “mother” and “father” after a legal battle.
“If I have three children, we will have parent one, two, and three and I will challenge the law again,” he said.
Barrie and Scott Dewitt-Barlow have described themselves as a “modern family” on their Youtube channel.