Probe after mother aged 62 has brother’s baby

French judicial officials have launched an investigation after a 62-year-old woman gave birth using her brother’s sperm and a donor egg from an American woman.

The woman, named in media reports as Jeanine Salomone, says she was artificially inseminated at a Los Angeles clinic and gave birth to a boy on May 14 in the southern French town of Frejus.

She said her 52-year-old brother Robert’s sperm was also used to conceive a second child with the same egg donor, who acted as a surrogate. The ‘twin’ girl was born in late May.

Miss Salomone, believed to be one of the world’s oldest new mothers, was apparently anxious to conceive to secure an heir to her 80-year-old mother’s £2 million fortune.

Both babies live in Frejus with Miss Salomone and her brother. Their mother also lives in the home.

The retired school teacher said she told the Los Angeles clinic that her brother was her husband so they would allow her to undergo in vitro fertilization there.

‘‘We are both healthy in mind and body,’’ she told Le Parisien newspaper.

‘‘I couldn’t pass on my genes because of my age, so I wanted to pass on his and give life so our line could continue,’’ she added. She and her brother are both single and were previously childless.

Christian Girard, official prosecutor in the nearby city of Draguignan, said the authorities were looking into the case to see if the family environment was suitable.

‘‘We have heard about the case since the birth of the child in mid-May,’’ Mr Girard said.

The prosecutor said officials were also considering the legal implications of the pregnancy. It is illegal in France for women who are too old to conceive naturally to undergo artificial insemination.