Three More Cloned Babies Due, Says Sect

The UFO sect inspired by a 4ft high extra-terrestrial with almond eyes and olive skin claimed yesterday that three more cloned babies would be born by February.

Brigitte Boisselier, managing director of the Raelian Movement's fertilisation company, Clonaid, told the BBC's Breakfast with Frost programme that her medical team had created several hundred cloned embryos before 10 implantation experiments - five of which were successful.

She said the second child was born to a Dutch lesbian couple on Friday night, following the birth of a girl called Eve to an American woman on December 26. "The baby is perfectly healthy, she's doing wonderfully well," she told Sky News.

Dr Boisselier fuelled mounting scepticism and condemnation by again refusing to say where the second baby was born or to produce any evidence to support her claims.

She said that although the American child's parents had promised to allow an independent expert to verify the cloning claims, they were concerned that the tests would reveal their identity or cause the child to be removed from their care.

"I want these tests to happen as soon as possible ... but not at any price," Dr Boisselier told the BBC.

A lawyer in Florida, where the first birth was announced by Dr Boisselier, has filed a suit calling for the child to be placed under the court's protection. The couple are due to make a decision on the tests today.

Harry Griffin, head of Britain's Roslin Institute, which cloned Dolly the sheep, told Reuters news agency there was no reason to believe "this is anything other than a publicity stunt".