A SURROGATE mother with learning difficulties has won a legal fight to keep a baby she carried for a same sex couple.

The woman, who is in her early 20s, is better placed than the two men to meet the little boy's emotional needs, a High Court judge has concluded.

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Ms Justice Russell said the boy had an "undiagnosed illness affecting his brain".

She said it was in his best interests to remain living with the woman.

The judge had analysed a dispute over the boy's future between the woman and the two men at a private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

She said, in a written ruling, that no-one involved could be identified.

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Ms Justice Russell said the two men had been introduced to the woman through a Facebook surrogacy site.

The woman had signed an agreement in a fast-food outlet.

She had decided that she did not want to hand the baby to the men some months before he was born.

Ms Justice Russell said the case was "yet another example" of the difficulties created by unregulated surrogacy arrangements.

She said the woman was of "limited income" and lived with a man who did manual work.

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The two men were "professionals" and in a "much more secure" social and economic position.

Ms Justice Russell said the boy would be able to stay in contact with the men, one of whom was his biological father.