Woman had a baby with her gay best friend for £8 – using a £3 syringe and a Morrisons Tupperware

The plan to start a family was formed on a drunken night out, but there was one catch – the pair wouldn’t have sex.

A woman revealed how she had a baby with her gay best friend – using a £3 syringe she bought off Amazon.

When pals Kerry Allen and Ali Thomson found themselves single and both desperate to be parents, they formed a plan on a drunken night out to have a child together.

But, there was one major catch – they wouldn’t have sex.

The syringe and Tupperware used by Ali and Kerry to conceive (PA Photo)

So they researched artificial insemination options. Then, after ordering a plastic medical syringe and using the ‘turkey baster method’ – where sperm is put directly into the vagina – at home, discovered Kerry, 29, was pregnant.

But tragedy struck at just 19 weeks when, in May 2017, the pair were told their baby boy Elijah’s heart had stopped beating, meaning Kerry had to give birth to the stillborn infant.

Now though, they are overjoyed to have welcomed a baby girl, Lanah, who was born on May 23 this year.

Adorable baby Lanah, aged 11 weeks (PA Photo)

Kerry, who shares a three-bed home in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland with Ali, 27, and their tot, smiled: “Being parents was something we had both wanted for so long, and seeing Lanah for the first time, I felt completely full of love.

“I would never have thought it would cost us just £8 to bring us so much joy. Using just a cheap syringe from the internet and a Tupperware from Morrison’s, we have an amazing baby.

“People do ask me, ‘Don’t you just wish Ali was straight?’ But I don’t. Neither of us have ever had any sort of romantic feelings for each other and we wouldn’t have the relationship we have now if he was.”

Singletons Ali, a barman, and Kerry, who worked in Burger King until her pregnancy, say they “just clicked” six years ago when they met working in the fast food restaurant – and have been best friends ever since.

He provided support for her, as she’d just come out of an “unhealthy” relationship. But their partnership was strictly platonic.

“Ali is a good-looking guy, but I never fancied him,” said Kerry. “That wasn’t what it was about.”

Ali and Kerry back in 2016 (PA Photo)

The best friends moved in together in 2014 and a year later, during a drunken night out, Kerry had a light-bulb moment.

She continued: “I’d always wanted to be a mum and felt the time was right.

“The only thing was, I wasn’t in a relationship and didn’t feel ready to be in one for a long time as I have been hurt before. Feeling broody, when I looked at Ali, I knew he would make a perfect dad. He was kind, funny and had said he would love to be a father one day too, so why not do it together?”

Steeled by a few glasses of wine, Kerry asked Ali what he thought about having a baby with her.

“I said, ‘Shall we have a baby together?’,” she recalled. “I think he was a bit shocked at first. He probably wondered what I was propositioning him for, but then, after thinking about it, he agreed.”

The morning after, Kerry asked Ali if he was still interested in her plan – and he was.

Ali and Kerry in 2016, a month before they started trying for a baby (PA Photo)

Straightaway the pair started researching how they could get pregnant without having sex.

“Sex was never an option for us. I don’t have the parts Ali likes, and neither of us see each other that way,” said Kerry.

“I did research on IVF but the process was shockingly expensive.”

Lanah at the 20 week scan (PA Photo)

They then found the ‘turkey baster method’ which sounded like the best, cheapest and easiest type of artificial insemination to suit their needs.

At home, Ali would collect his sperm in a medical syringe, which Kerry would then insert into her vagina and inject its contents before letting nature take its course.

After ordering the £3 syringe from Amazon and a £5 Tupperware box from Morrisons, for Ali to collect his sperm in, the pair chose a quiet night in October 2016 to start trying.

PA Photo

Kerry explained: “Ali did his thing, he left the syringe in my bedroom for me to collect before I did my ‘thing’.

“We did it all very separately and privately, and afterwards I laid on my bed with my legs propped up against the headboard for an hour and a half, as that can help with conception.”

Three months later, on their fourth attempt, they were delighted to discover Kerry was expecting.

The syringe used by Ali and Kerry to conceive (PA Photo)

But in May 2017, tragedy struck at just 19 weeks when, at a private scan during which they’d planned to find out the sex, the pair were told their baby boy’s heart had stopped beating.

Kerry had to give birth to their stillborn son, named Elijah, with Ali by her side.

Kerry said: “We were both heartbroken, as all our dreams of becoming parents felt like they were over, but fortunately we were supported by the Scottish charity SiMBA, who help people who have lost a child during pregnancy. We have had counselling online with the charity, which has helped us get through the devastating time.”

Despite their grief, the pair were determined to fulfil their wish to start a family, now even more sure they wanted to be parents together.

Last August, they decided to try for a baby for a second time – using the same £3 syringe as before, which they had kept on the bathroom shelf, and just sterilised.

And incredibly, Kerry fell pregnant straightaway.

Lanah aged two months old (PA Photo)

“I almost didn’t believe it was true,” she said.

“We had been left so devastated after losing Elijah that I never thought it would be possible again – but there they were, those two magic lines on the test.”

Throughout her pregnancy, Ali doted on Kerry, making her dinner and running baths to ease her aching body.

PA Photo

Kerry explained: “He was the perfect partner to go through it all with. And as my bump started to show, people did think we were a couple and congratulated us on expecting. We never hid anything. We just smiled and explained we weren’t a couple, Ali was gay, but we were having a baby together.”

At the 16-week scan, Kerry who is originally from Livingston, and Ali from Balerno, both near Edinburgh, Scotland, found out they were expecting a baby girl.

Kerry became fearful their daughter might arrive on May 20, the anniversary of Elijah’s stillbirth, but, on May 23 – two days overdue and after a five-hour labour – she gave birth to 6lb 11oz Lanah Allen-Thomson with Ali by her side again.

Ali and his new baby daughter, Lanah (PA Photo)

“She was just so perfect,” Kerry recalled. “The way Ali looked at her made me realise everything we had done was so right. And she is the spitting-image of her dad, too!”

Now three months old and living together in their three-bedroom home with separate bedrooms, Kerry says Ali is the perfect ‘other half’, changing nappies and sharing the gruelling night feeds.

Kerry smiled: “Lanah is a real daddy’s girl. She adores her dad, and so do I. We are both so lucky we met each other and decided to have a baby. It’s the best thing I have ever done. “

Ali and Kerry in 2016 (PA Photo)

Worried at first about people’s reactions, Kerry and Ali say the support they have had from family and friends has been nothing short of amazing.

“My mum cried and said she never thought I would give her a grandchild,” Ali said.

“Kerry’s mum was shocked but so happy, and now they are doting grandparents.”

PA Photo

And as for the future, Kerry, who says she has no interest in being in a new relationship, knows Ali, who has not dated for four years, will probably meet someone else and move out one day. But they do not want any more children, because of the trauma of losing Elijah.

She explained: “I know Ali will find someone, and I hope he does. But they will have to accept that Lanah and I will always come first. And we’ll explain to Lanah when she is older that we don’t have the most traditional set-up, but Mummy and Daddy love her so very much.”

Ali added: “The most important thing is that a baby is loved, and Lanah truly is.”

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota prosecutor on Friday called on the public to share with investigators any recordings and evidence connected to the fatal shooting of Renee Good as a new video emerged showing the final moments of her encounter with an immigration officer.

The Minneapolis killing and a separate shooting in Portland, Oregon, a day later by the Border Patrol have set off protests in multiple cities and denunciations of immigration enforcement tactics by the U.S. government. The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents.

The reaction to the shooting has largely been focused on witness cellphone video of the encounter. A new, 47-second video that was published online by a Minnesota-based conservative news site, Alpha News, and later reposted on social media by the Department of Homeland Security shows the shooting from the perspective of ICE officer Jonathan Ross, who fired the shots.

Sirens blaring in the background, he approaches and circles Good’s vehicle in the middle of the road while apparently filming on his cellphone. At the same time, Good’s wife also was recording the encounter and can be seen walking around the vehicle and approaching the officer. A series of exchanges occurred:

“That’s fine, I’m not mad at you,” Good says as the officer passes by her door. She has one hand on the steering wheel and the other outside the open driver side window.

“U.S. citizen, former f---ing veteran,” says her wife, standing outside the passenger side of the SUV holding up her phone. “You wanna come at us, you wanna come at us, I say go get yourself some lunch big boy.”

Other officers are approaching the driver’s side of the car at about the same time and one says: “Get out of the car, get out of the f---ing car.” Ross is now at the front driver side of the vehicle. Good reverses briefly, then turns the steering wheel toward the passenger side as she drives ahead and Ross opens fire.

The camera becomes unsteady and points toward the sky and then returns to the street view showing Good’s SUV careening away.

“F---ing b---,” someone at the scene says.

A crashing sound is heard as Good’s vehicle smashes into others parked on the street.

Federal agencies have encouraged officers to document encounters in which people may attempt to interfere with enforcement actions, but policing experts have cautioned that recording on a handheld device can complicate already volatile situations by occupying an officer’s hands and narrowing focus at moments when rapid decision-making is required.

Under an ICE policy directive, officers and agents are expected to activate body-worn cameras at the start of enforcement activities and to record throughout interactions, and footage must be kept for review in serious incidents such as deaths or use-of-force cases. The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to questions about whether the officer who opened fire or any of the others who were on the scene were wearing body cameras.

Vice President JD Vance and Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in posts on X that the new video backs their contention that the officer fired in self-defense.

“Many of you have been told this law enforcement officer wasn’t hit by a car, wasn’t being harassed, and murdered an innocent woman,” Vance said. “The reality is that his life was endangered and he fired in self defense.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has said any self-defense argument is “garbage.”

Policing experts said the video didn’t change their thoughts on the use-of-force but did raise additional questions about the officer’s training.

“Now that we can see he’s holding a gun in one hand and a cellphone in the other filming, I want to see the officer training that permits that,” said Geoff Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina.

The video demonstrates that the officers didn’t perceive Good to be a threat, said John P. Gross, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School who has written extensively about officers shooting at moving vehicles.

“If you are an officer who views this woman as a threat, you don’t have one hand on a cellphone. You don’t walk around this supposed weapon, casually filming,” Gross said.

Ross, 43, is an Iraq War veteran who has served in the Border Patrol and ICE for nearly two decades. He was injured last year when he was dragged by a driver fleeing an immigration arrest.

Attempts to reach Ross at phone numbers and email addresses associated with him were not successful.

Meanwhile, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said that although her office has collaborated effectively with the FBI in past cases, she is concerned by the Trump administration's decision to bar state and local agencies from playing any role in the investigation into Good's killing.

She also said the officer who shot Good in the head does not have complete legal immunity, as Vance declared.

“We do have jurisdiction to make this decision with what happened in this case,” Moriarty said at a news conference. “It does not matter that it was a federal law enforcement agent.”

Moriarty said her office would post a link for the public to submit footage of the shooting, even though she acknowledged that she wasn't sure what legal outcome submissions might produce.

Good's wife, Becca Good, released a statement to Minnesota Public Radio on Friday saying, “kindness radiated out of her.”

"On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns," Becca Good said.

“I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him, as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him,” she wrote.

The reaction to Good's shooting was immediate in the city where police killed George Floyd in 2020, with hundreds of protesters converging on the shooting scene and the school district canceling classes for the rest of the week as a precaution and offering an online option through Feb. 12.

On Friday, protesters were outside a federal facility serving as a hub for the immigration crackdown that began Tuesday in Minneapolis and St. Paul. That evening, hundreds protested and marched outside two hotels in downtown Minneapolis where immigration enforcement agents were supposed to be staying. Some people were seen breaking or spray painting windows and state law enforcement officers wearing helmets and holding batons ordered the remaining group of fewer than 100 people to leave late Friday.

The Portland shooting happened outside a hospital Thursday. A federal border officer shot and wounded a man and woman in a vehicle, identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Venezuela nationals Luis David Nico Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras. Police said they were in stable condition Friday after surgery, with DHS saying Nico Moncada was taken into FBI custody

DHS defended the actions of its officers in Portland, saying the shooting occurred after the driver with alleged gang ties tried to “weaponize” his vehicle to hit them. It said no officers were injured.

Portland Police Chief Bob Day confirmed that the two people shot had “some nexus” to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. Day said they came to the attention of police during an investigation of a July shooting believed to have been carried out by gang members, but they were not identified as suspects.

The chief said any gang affiliation did not necessarily justify the shooting by U.S. Border Patrol. The Oregon Department of Justice said it would investigate.

On Friday evening, hundreds of protesters marched to the ICE building in Portland.

The Minneapolis shooting happened on the second day of the immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities, which Homeland Security said is the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever. More than 2,000 officers are taking part and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they have made more than 1,500 arrests.

The government is also shifting immigration officers to Minneapolis from sweeps in Louisiana, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. This represents a pivot, as the Louisiana crackdown that began in December had been expected to last into February.

Good's death — at least the fifth tied to immigration sweeps since President Donald Trump took office — has resonated far beyond Minneapolis. More protests are planned for this weekend, according to Indivisible, a group formed to resist the Trump administration.

Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski and Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis; Ed White in Detroit; Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas; Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma; Michael Biesecker in Washington; Jim Mustian and Safiyah Riddle in New York; Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

People participate in a protest and noise demonstration calling for an end to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

People participate in a protest and noise demonstration calling for an end to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

People participate in a protest and noise demonstration calling for an end to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Supporters of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement rally outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

Minneapolis Public Schools families, educators and students hold signs during a news conference at Lake Hiawatha Park in Minneapolis, on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, demanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement be kept out of schools and Minnesota following the killing of 37-year-old mother Renee Good by federal agents earlier on Wednesday. (Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

A supporter of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement argues with a counter protester outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

Protesters confront law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

Protesters' shadows are cast on the street near law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

Protesters confront law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

An American flag burns outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Two protesters are lit by a police light as they walk outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Protesters are arrested by federal agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

Protesters sit on a barrier that is being assembled outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building as protesters gather in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

Protesters stand off against law enforcement outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Protesters chant and march during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer the day before, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Protesters gather during a rally for Renee Good, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, after she was fatally shot by an ICE officer the day before. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

Protesters confront federal agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

People gather around a makeshift memorial honoring the victim of a fatal shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, near the site of the shooting, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino arrives as protesters gather outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

A protester pours water in their eye after confronting law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

People gather around a makeshift memorial honoring the victim of a fatal shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, near the site of the shooting, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)