A man discovered the three children he had had with his ex-wife were not his when his doctor told him he had been infertile since birth, The Telegraph reports.

Richard Mason sued Kate, his wife of 20 years, when a doctor told him in 2016 that he suffered from cystic fibrosis and was incapable of having children. That meant the children he had raised as his own since 1995 must have been conceived during an affair.

The 55-year-old businessman tried to get a £4 million cash sum paid as part of his divorce settlement in 2008 returned, while also pursuing his ex-wife for paternity fraud.

Mrs Mason agreed at the end of November to settle matters with a payment of £250,000 - on condition the biological father remained anonymous. 

Roger Terrell, a solicitor representing Mr Mason, told The Telegraph the move may have been prompted by a desire to stop the identity being disclosed in court.

Mrs Mason admitted that in the late 1990s she had been having an irregular, four-year affair with another man. Her eldest son was born in the 1995, while his brothers - twins - were born in 1999.