Ben Ford cuddles mum Kim West (Image: The New Day)
A married man, adopted at birth, stunned his family and subsequently the nation when he left his wife to embark on a sexual relationship with his biological mother.
Kim West, now in her 50s, was a 19-year-old student in California when she gave birth to her son Ben Ford. Unable to care for him, she put him up for adoption a week later before returning to the UK.
Over three decades passed without any contact between them.
However, in 2013, Ben, who was married and residing in Colorado, decided to search for his biological parents and successfully located Kim, sending her a letter.
What began as letters and phone calls rapidly escalated, and by 2014 they arranged to meet in person, a meeting that would alter their lives forever.
Kim and Ben crossed a boundary most would deem unthinkable, becoming sexually involved almost instantly, reports the Mirror.
Ben later confessed the encounters were so “mind-blowing” that he could no longer be intimate with his then-wife, Victoria, unless he imagined she was his mother.
Kim said: “(Victoria) was welcoming, yet I couldn’t warm to her. I felt a growing sense of competition and when Ben touched her I felt jealous.
“I became even more aware of the fact that she thought I was spending too much time with Ben. She would constantly call him when we were together.
“Eventually, he admitted she was giving him grief about spending time with me. ‘She calls you mummy girlfriend’ he said.”
Within days of the affair starting, Ben came clean about everything. Shortly afterwards, he left his marriage and relocated to live with Kim in Michigan.
Their relationship sparked fury when it became public knowledge, particularly as consensual incest between adults constitutes a serious criminal offence under Michigan law.
If charged, the couple could have been sentenced to up to 15 years imprisonment and compelled to register as sex offenders for life.
As media scrutiny intensified, Kim and Ben decided to retreat from the public spotlight.
Despite the fierce criticism, the pair maintained their relationship is not technically incest.
They claim it is a phenomenon called “Genetic Sexual Attraction”, a disputed theory proposing that relatives who encounter each other for the first time as adults may experience sexual attraction owing to absent bonding during infancy.
Kim dismissed the incest classification entirely, declaring they were “meant to be together”. Ben stated he never viewed her as a mother, only as a sexual partner.
The justification has been roundly condemned by experts, yet the couple remained steadfast, even expressing desires to marry and have children together.
