Gay dads' plea for new mum

manchester news  Clarissa Satchell  Sept 9, 2003

A GAY couple from Cheshire are advertising for a woman to become the surrogate mum to their fourth child.

Tony and Barrie Drewitt-Barlow have just celebrated the birth of their third baby - and are already planning the next by placing an advert on the internet to find a woman to carry their child.

The pair have also revealed that they plan to move to Spain and have have put their £4m home in Adlington, Macclesfield, on the market.

Tony, 38, and Barrie, 34, own a home in Alicante and will move there permanently, although they will keep a flat in Manchester city centre.

But the millionaires insist they have not had a hostile reaction from the public after fathering their third baby, Orlando, who was born to a surrogate mother in California.

The pair made legal history with their first children, twins Saffron and Aspen, when a US court granted them to right to be named joint parents.

Barrie said: "We've had enough, it's time for a change.

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"We want some warm weather and a change of scene, but we both love Manchester. It's where we came from and I'm looking forward to having a place in the city centre."

They are deciding whether to keep Saffron and Aspen at their exclusive Cheshire school to avoid disrupting their education. They already commute from Spain every weekend.

"We don't want the children to be treated differently," said Barrie. "They do have minders, but many pupils at the school have well-known parents, so it's normal for them."

The pair used a different surrogate mother for the twins and Orlando, but the children have the same biological mother who donated eggs.

Barrie said: "Orlando is a lovely, well-behaved baby and Saffron and Aspen are just thrilled. Now we've decided we want just one more."

The pair grew up on council estates in Longsight and Wythenshawe and became rich through their pharmaceuticals testing firm, which they sold for £4m in 1998.

Barrie is writing a book about surrogacy and a Channel 4 documentary will be screened next year.