Two cleared in handcuffed MP case

Mr Hatch and Mr Stanseby were cleared of false imprisonment

A fathers' rights campaigner who handcuffed himself to former children's minister Margaret Hodge has been cleared of false imprisonment.

Mrs Hodge was ambushed at a Law Society conference at the Lowry Hotel in Salford, Greater Manchester, in 2004.

The MP was handcuffed for 20 minutes Manchester Crown Court heard.

Jonathan Stanesby, 41, from Ivybridge, Devon, was cleared along with Jason Hatch, 35, from Cheltenham, who tried but failed to reach the MP.

Mrs Hodge, who is now culture minister, had to be freed with bolt cutters.

The minister was at the Lowry Hotel on 19 November for a conference called "Battle of the Sexes".


Margaret Hodge MP was at a Law Society conference

She was handcuffed by Mr Stanesby as she took part in a question-and-answer session afterwards.

He cuffed her wrist to his, saying: "Margaret Hodge, I'm arresting you for covering up child abuse."

This was a reference to Mrs Hodge's time as a councillor in Islington, north London.

Mr Hatch also attempted to handcuff the Cabinet minister and MP for Barking but was blocked from reaching her by Mrs Hodge's assistant private secretary.

At the trial Mrs Hodge described how she was "distressed" by the activists' actions.

'Upset and disturbed'

"I did have a pain on my wrist for about six months afterwards," she said.

"I was upset and I was very disturbed by that incident."

But Kyri Argyropoulos, for Mr Stanesby, suggested that the minister was not prepared to meet members of Fathers 4 Justice because of their past behaviour.

He suggested she was "far from accessible" - a charge Mrs Hodge denied.

Alan Wolstenholme, prosecuting, said the men "went much further than they were entitled to do".

The verdicts were met with cheers and applause from Fathers 4 Justice supporters in the public gallery.

The court heard how both men had previously been involved in high-profile protests for the group.

Mr Hatch, who gained notoriety after scaling the walls of Buckingham Palace dressed as Batman, thanked the jury after the not guilty verdict was read out.

He said he was "ecstatic" at the verdict.

"The jury are sending a clear message that the family law courts must be overhauled immediately.

"The breakdown in our society can quite clearly be traced to the breakdown of families. The only way this can be rectified is by stopping the secrecy of family courts.

"I carried out a citizen's arrest on Margaret Hodge and it looks like the jury thought I was justified to do so."

COURT TOLD PROTESTERS HANDCUFFED MP

Two fathers' rights protesters - one from Ivybridge - handcuffed former children's minister Margaret Hodge during a family law conference, a court heard today.

Jason Hatch, 35, and Jonathan 'Jolly' Stanesby, 41, walked up to the MP during a question-and-answer session in Salford, Greater Manchester and grabbed her by the arms, Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court was told.

Stanesby, of Ivybridge, told the minister she was being "arrested" for child abuse before cuffing her left wrist to his, the court heard.

Mrs Hodge, who is MP for Barking, was trapped in the fixed handcuffs for 15 minutes and eventually had to be released using bolt cutters.

Opening the case for the prosecution, Alan Wolstenholme said Hatch had intended to handcuff himself to Mrs Hodge's other arm but she struggled free with the help of her assistant private secretary. Hatch, of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, was grabbed by a security guard but managed to get free and leave the conference at the Lowry Hotel, dropping his handcuffs on the way, the court heard.

Mr Wolstenholme said the pair were both members of Fathers4Justice at the time of the incident on November 19, 2004, and had aimed to gain publicity for their cause.

Mr Wolstenholme said Mrs Hodge, who, at the time, was minister for children, young people and families, arrived at the hotel at around 10am.

She spoke at the conference, which was entitled Battle Of The Sexes, and took part in a Q and A session afterwards. Around 10 minutes into the session, she noticed two men approaching her from the left of the platform.

Mr Wolstenholme said: "The two men were carrying books and stood out to the extent that they wore ill-fitting suits and seemed to be the only people standing up at the time.

"As they got to within five feet or so of Margaret Hodge they rushed towards her. One of the two men took hold of her right arm and the other took her left arm."

Both men deny a charge of false imprisonment.

Almost a third of a million would follow in Fathers 4 Justice's footsteps and attempt to get on to the roof of Buckingham Palace.

A YouGov poll published today reveals more than a million Brits would beprepared to go as far as chaining themselves to the gates of Downing Street tomake their point heard.

While signing petitions and letter writing are the most popular ways to take astand, the research shows that millions of people are prepared to go to moreextreme lengths to make their voices heard, especially the younger generations.

A quarter of Brits prepared to take a stand would go on strike to defend theircorner, with three per cent prepared to join their comrades chaining themselvesto Downing Street by storming the House of Commons.

Meanwhile, two per cent would go on hunger strike and almost a third of amillion would follow in Fathers 4 Justice's footsteps and attempt to get on to the roof of Buckingham Palace.

But for younger people, two-fifths would be prepared to strike, almost a quarterwould join a sit in or lock-out while one-in-25 (four per cent) would beprepared to embark on a hunger strike.

Whatever to the likely dads?

Three years ago today four men climbed on to Bristol's best-known landmark to make their protest heard about the family justice system. VICKI MATHIAS spoke to the Fathers 4 Justice campaigners to find out just how far the fight went for them

They are an unlikely bunch of superheroes, but the four men who scaled the Clifton Suspension Bristol on February 2, 2004, had big ideas about the way fathers should be treated.
Drivers crossing the bridge during the morning rush hour were confronted by the sight of Superman, Spiderman, Batman and Robin looking down on them from on top of the tower on the Leigh Woods side.

It was an unexpected stunt, and one that later caused traffic mayhem when the bridge was closed to vehicles, but it captured the attention of the public and the worldwide media.
The bridge protest was Fathers 4 Justice's first big announcement to the world of their aims. Similar stunts took place over the next few months, but it was the Clifton event that really highlighted the plight of the men campaigning for the right to see their children.
There had been demonstrations and marches in the 14 months leading up to the suspension bridge stunt, but it was this action that catapulted the movement into the forefront of the public's imagination.

None of the men realised just how big the protest would become. They expected that maybe a handful of people would see them, that their picture might appear in the Evening Post and there might be a piece on one of the regional television stations.

They never expected the response they got and the non-stop round of interviews that followed.
Three of the four men who climbed on to the bridge that day have now been able to sort access arrangements to see their children, and for them the whole process was worthwhile. But for Pat Lennon the fight still continues and he is now preparing to return to the campaign route.
The four men who climbed on to the bridge that day can be summed up as reasonably quiet, normal men. They were united in their fight, which spurred them to act in a way they might once never have imagined.

In recalling the events of February 2004 there is an apparent fondness for the camaraderie that they displayed.

The operation of February 2, 2004, was dreamed up in a Downend pub.
Despite claims by the police that it was a military-style operation, the campaigners deny this.
They drove up in Jason Hatch's works van with a ladder on the roof and, after attempting to climb up the tower while the others were holding the ladder secure, they found that a hatch was open. The people who got caught up in the rush-hour chaos that ensued may not have seen the funny side as the bridge was closed for much of the 27-hour protest.
One man who did not get the chance to stand on the tower that day, but played an integral role in the protest, was Jeff Skinner, now 40, of Downend.

He was the man who introduced the idea of the suspension bridge as a location and stood in the cold speaking to the country's media while the others were perched precariously on the tower.
At the time the group had only been going for a few months in Bristol.
Jeff said: "The suspension bridge was the first direct action in Bristol. There were other Fathers 4 Justice protests across the country that day and we thought we would play a small part in a bigger picture. It didn't quite work out that way."

After first getting involved in the group in 2003, Jeff went on to represent himself in court, until he eventually won the fight to see his two daughters, now 10, and eight, and even started to advise other fathers of their legal rights.

"It's not what you'd expect of someone who left school with a CSE in pottery," said Jeff.
F4J was formed by Matt O'Connor in 2002 to campaign for equal parenting, family law reform and equal contact for divorced parents with children. High-profile protests continued with Jason Hatch climbing on to a ledge at Buckingham Palace and another similar stunt at the Big Brother House in January 2005.

Jason thinks big over protests

Jason Hatch has revealed that Fathers 4 Justice could target major international airports and High Court judges.The 34-year-old says the fathers' rights group is back on track and ready for new challenges.

The activist, who was the brains behind stunts which included scaling Buckingham Palace and Bristol's Clifton Suspension Bridge dressed as superheroes, says membership is growing.
At a meeting in Bristol, some of the major players in F4J, including founder Matt O'Connor, spoke to new recruits about getting the campaign back on track.

Jason says the organisation has become much more structured since it began.
He said: "We just had to follow our noses back then - we didn't know what we were doing.
"Now we will be making sure we will train new recruits.

"We have training programmes in place about how to carry out the stunts."
Recent F4J demonstrations have included mounting Stonehenge.

But Jason, who used his Cheltenham home as the base for several high-profile stunts, says he will not be getting involved with anything small-scale.

"I'm not interested in doing little things and ending up before magistrates somewhere," he said.
"I've learnt my lesson where that's concerned.

"I'm looking at doing major stunts that get attention from the national and international media."
Jason, who now lives in Wiltshire, has earmarked major motorways and airports as possible targets.

He said: "If we can get intothe airports, we can cause real chaos.
"That's what it's all about - getting ourselves back on the agenda.
"We also want to target the judges - it's they who make the decisions."

Arrest on dads' rights demo

Fathers 4 Justice protester Jason Hatch has been arrested for handcuffing himself to a Government minister - almost a year later. The Cheltenham campaigner tried to attach himself to Children's Minister Margaret Hodge at a Law Society conference in Manchester. The attempt failed when his handcuffs broke.

At the time Hatch, who has four children, said he had been trying to place Mrs Hodge under citizen's arrest.

He has now been arrested on suspicion of unlawful imprisonment and asked to go to a police station in Manchester on November 11.
He said: "I was arrested two weeks ago and it was a bit of a shock. I didn't expect it to happen this long after the event."

Dads stage Town Hall roof protest

They've scaled Buckingham Palace, climbed York Minster and closed Bristol Suspension Bridge. And yesterday Fathers 4 Justice brought their campaign home - to Cheltenham Town Hall.

The drama unfolded at 10am as two Cheltenham dads scrambled onto the roof.Dressed as Spiderman and Batman, they intended to disrupt the General Election count which they thought was happening in the Town Hall.

Instead F4J were faced with 15 eight-year-olds competing in the recorder solo class of the Competitive Festival.

Undeterred, the dads unfurled a banner which said: "Blair and Co Family Butchers".
Secured with ropes, the masked duo perched on the edge of the rooftop balustrade.
A coachload of children arrived to perform their party piece to be greeted by the superheroes sounding an airhorn.

Adults tried to hurry the youngsters inside but they squealed in delight at seeing their superheroes in the flesh.

Minutes later two police officers turned up in shirt sleeves and joined them on the roof.
Attempts to talk the duo down failed. Spiderman and Batman turned their backs defiantly and continued to salute honking cars and waving pedestrians below.
Cheltenham campaigner Jason Hatch, unable to join the rooftop protest because of bail restrictions, paced the pavement down below, beaming from ear to ear and clad in an F4J T-shirt and anorak.

He said: "On election day we wanted to people to think about children who have suffered at the hands of the Labour Party.

"They're trying to create a generation of McDads. They think generous contact is a Saturday afternoon with your child taking them to McDonald's. I wish I was up there because it's my home town." Dressed as Batman, dad of two Dean Smith, who lives in Sun Street, in Cheltenham, is new to F4J campaigning. He came off the roof at 12.30pm and was promptly arrested by police.

Spiderman Colin Baker, a father of one from Bishop's Cleeve, is an old hand.
He held the ladder which Jason used to scale a Buckingham Palace balcony last September.
He vowed to remain on the roof until midnight, and stuck it out until 1am.
In the afternoon police cordoned off the front of the Town Hall and arrested Jason and fellow campaigners Dan Beach and Dave Pyke.

F4J member Peter Danby said: "The police tried to arrest me for using my mobile phone.
"They thought I was communicating with Spiderman. It's madness. We're not the IRA." Watching from an Imperial Square balcony, across the road, businessman Will Barnes said: "It's a message that Tony Blair should listen to. The Town Hall's had some distinguished visitors - the Queen, Cherie Blair and now F4J." A police spokeswoman said three people had been arrested and were being held in custody.

Nine in court over protest

Nine members of the Fathers4Justice protest group have appeared in court accused of trying to storm the Celebrity Big Brother studios as a publicity stunt. Eight men - including Nottingham campaigner Darryl Westell - and one woman were arrested at Elstree Film Studios on January 14.

Jason Hatch, 33, of Alston Mews, Cheltenham, and David Pyke, 49, of River Leys, Cheltenham, each denied charges of disorderly behaviour causing harassment, alarm or distress, as well as obstructing police officers, when they appeared before St Albans magistrates.

Darryl Westell, 23, of Loxley Court, Nottingham, Stephen Smith, 36, of Eastlake Close, Bristol, Michael Downes, 42, of Foxfield Road, Manchester, and Andrew James, 35, of Lyndhurst Avenue, Newport, each denied disorderly behaviour and being found on enclosed premises.
Matthaus Huber, 51, of Ballards Road, Dagenham; Elaine Risk, 44, of Foxfield Road, Manchester, and Roland Primus, 43, of Fleetham Gardens, Reading, each denied a charge of disorderly behaviour. They will all stand trial on October 3.

Suspension bridge father scales wall of foreign office to campaign for better access to children

A Fathers 4 Justice campaigner who scaled Clifton Suspension Bridge has taken part in a new protest at the heart of Whitehall. Three members of F4J, which campaigns for the rights of fathers with restricted access to their children, climbed a wall of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Just before 10pm last night, one protester climbed into the Foreign Office, where police officers were waiting. The other two followed later, a Scotland Yard spokeswoman said.All three have been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.
The group said one of the protesters - dressed as Batman - was Jason Hatch, aged 32, of Cheltenham.

Mr Hatch was one of four men who climbed the Clifton Suspension Bridge on February 2 and 3 last year, causing traffic chaos as the bridge was closed to cars and pedestrians for 25 hours.
They were found guilty last October of public order offences and last month failed in an appeal to overturn their convictions.

F4J has held a series of high-profile stunts to draw attention to its campaign.
Last December, members dressed in Father Christmas costumes closed part of the M4 motorway by the Second Severn Crossing when they climbed a gantry.
Mr Hatch also staged a balcony protest at Buckingham Palace and the group also breached security in the House of Commons by throwing a purple flour bomb at Prime Minister Tony Blair.

F4J said protesters climbed the Foreign Office building in Whitehall by using a ladder to reach a ledge.

They then picked their way around the corner of the building, until they were overlooking Downing Street itself, and unfurled a banner which said "Access denied. Don't let Labour stop you being a Superdad".

F4J said that Mr Hatch was dressed as Batman.
It named another protester, dressed as Robin, as Andy James, although it did not release any information about where he was from.

The name of the third man, dressed as Captain America, was not released.
F4J founder Matt O'Connor said the protest was the start of a series of campaigns in the lead-up to an expected general election.

He said: "We are planning loads of similar events.
"We will be targeting the Labour Party and its machine. Our aim is to cause them as much embarrassment as possible.

"We feel passionately about this issue. We are not going to go away. We remain indefatigable. We are prepared to go to prison, or be shot - whatever it takes." A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said the trio had climbed up the side of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at 2.40pm yesterday.

They were dressed as workmen and gained access to the balcony by climbing up a ladder balanced on the back of a flatbed lorry.
The spokeswoman said: "It took less than one minute and police officers were quickly on the scene.

"The men immediately identified themselves as supporters of Fathers 4 Justice. There has been no breach of security."


PROTEST DADS STAGE STUNT NEAR TO NO10SECTION:

THREE members of the Fathers 4 Justice campaign dressed as Batman, Robin and Captain America clambered on to a ledge of the Foreign Office yesterday.

A police officer was at a nearby window trying to talk to the protestors who were perched above the security gates which protect Downing Street.The three had unfurled a banner declaring: "Access denied. Don't let Labour stop you being a Superdad."

The protest immediately attracted a large audience of police officers and members of the public who were looking on, although there was no immediate effort to stop traffic flowing along Whitehall.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "Work is carrying on as usual. The police are on the scene and are dealing with it."

Richard Castle, the London co-ordinator of Fathers 4 Justice, said the protestors hoped to continue their demonstration for as long as possible.

He added that the man dressed as Batman was Jason Hatch, who previously hit the headlines when he scaled the walls of Buckingham Palace.

Mr Castle said the campaign group is planning a series of protest events in the run up to the General Election.

He said: "Watch this space. We as a group are fighting the Labour Government. What we are trying to highlight is that rather than helping families and children, the government is failing families.

"They are producing a generation McDads - fathers who only ever see their children in McDonald's once every few weeks."

F4J TRIO'S DOWNING ST PROTESTSECTION:

THE Fathers 4 Justice member who scaled Buckingham Palace last night staged another protest just yards from No 10 Downing Street.

Jason Hatch got onto the Foreign Office building with two other men dressed as Batman, Robin and Captain America.Pete Chiplin and Andy James came down when it started snowing after nine hours. Hatch lasted out until early this morning. All three were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and were being held at a police station in Central London.

Fathers 4 Justice founder Matt O'Connor said: "It was bitterly cold up there but Jason was determined to tough it out as long as he physically can."

They had unfurled a banner, reading: "Don't let Labour stop you being a superdad."

They climbed up the building - about 100 yards from Tony Blair's residence - using a ladder mounted on a flatbed truck.

A senior member of the group said: "Hatch mentioned he had eyed up a few ledges in Downing Street in the past and they just decided to go for it.

Jason made a big impact

Fathers 4 Justice campaigner Jason Hatch made the second biggest impression on politics last year. Tory MP and Spectator editor Boris Johnson won the top gong at the Channel 4 Political Awards.

Jason, who lives in Alstone Mews, Cheltenham, and scaled a Buckingham Palace ledge last September, donned his Batman cape for the awards ceremony in London.

He said: "I'm disappointed not to win. But I rubbed shoulders with politicians who have criticised me, so I got to put my point across.

"I suppose I couldn't be seen to win because of the tactics F4J use."

Dad M4 Stunt

Dad M4 stunt - six charged

Cheltenham Fathers 4 Justice campaigners Jason Hatch and David Pyke face three charges for their M4 gantry stunt last week. The pair and four others are charged with putting lives at risk, criminal damage and a breach of the peace.

They spent nine hours on a gantry at J20 of the M4.They have been bailed to appear at a police station in Bristol on January 11.

Minister is handcuffed by a father

A FATHERS 4 Justice campaigner handcuffed himself to Government minister Margaret Hodge at a family law conference she was due to address in Manchester on Friday.

The man handcuffed himself to the children's minister at 10.11am and was arrested by police officers at 10.50am.Fathers 4 Justice said Jolly Stanesby and Jason Hatch who scaled Buckingham Palace dressed as Batman and Robin earlier this year had made "a citizen"s arrest".

A Government spokeswoman said: "Margaret Hodge was speaking at a family law conference at the Lowry Hotel in Manchester. The matter is being dealt with by the police and she is going ahead with her speech as planned."

Downing Street declined to comment on the incident. A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: "Police were called to the Lowry Hotel after a man is believed to have entered a meeting being held in a function room and handcuffed himself to a government minister.

"Officers arrived at the hotel and the minister who was attending the meeting was freed from the handcuffs. She was unharmed and a man has been arrested in connection with the incident."

Batman zaps security at the Palace

A protester dressed as Batman breached security at Buckingham Palace yesterday by scaling the perimeter wall and staging a demonstration on a ledge next to the main balcony.
Despite two security reviews in the past year, Jason Hatch, 33, a member of the pressure group Fathers 4 Justice, managed to evade police and armed guards and climb on to the building.


After more than five and a half hours standing on the ledge 25ft above the ground, Hatch came down at 7.15pm. He clapped and waved to the crowds before being slowly lowered to the ground with two police officers in a mechanical hoist.

Hatch, who was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage, was examined at St Thomas's Hospital. He told police he had an existing, unrelated head injury.
David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, told MPs last night that the incident showed that an alarm system installed at the palace after the September 11 attacks did work.


While Hatch had breached security, police both inside and outside the building took "immediate steps to protect the palace".
The building had been quickly secured and an armed officer at the scene decided that Hatch was a protester rather than a terrorist.
The stunt came on the day another member of the Fathers 4 Justice group was in court facing public order charges over an incident earlier this year when a condom filled with purple flour was thrown at the Prime Minister in the Commons.

Hatch edges his way round towards the main balconey
Although neither the Queen nor any other member of the Royal Family was in residence yesterday, Sir John Stevens, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, admitted the intruder's ability to get as far as he did was another embarrassment for his force, which is responsible for royal security.

"It's not good enough and we want to know how this happened."
Sir John said police would have shot Hatch had they thought he had a bomb. Police and palace officials launched separate inquiries.

The Met was criticised last year when Aaron Barschak, describing himself as a "comedy terrorist", gatecrashed Prince William's 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle wearing a dress and beard.

Questions about vetting procedures were raised when a Daily Mirror reporter obtained a job as a footman at Buckingham Palace. An inquiry by the Security Commission led to the appointment of Brig Gen Jeffrey Cook as new royal security chief.

Unmasked Hatch is led away by police ending his protest
Yesterday's incident was the latest in a series of high-profile protests staged by members of Fathers 4 Justice wearing super-hero costumes.

Hatch, a painter and decorator from Gloucester, used a ladder to scale the palace railings where they meet a palace annexe close to the road.
He then clambered along ledges on the outside of the building to reach the balcony in front of the palace, where he unfurled a banner which read: "Super dads of Fathers 4 Justice" and "Fighting for your right to see your kids".

Another member, David Pyke, 48, who was dressed as Batman's sidekick Robin, also tried to scale the perimeter fence but came down when police threatened to shoot him. He was arrested later.

A third man, who was seen holding the ladder for Hatch and Pyke, ran away, police said.
John O'Connor, a former Scotland Yard Flying Squad commander, said the breach was an "absolute disgrace".

He added: "They are more concerned about the Changing of the Guard and all the ceremonies than taking security seriously."

Hatch separated from his wife Victoria in 2001 and was granted access to his children for two hours every three weeks by a judge.

But Hatch, a national co-ordinator of Fathers 4 Justice, claims he has only seen his son, aged five, and daughter, four, for a total of six hours in the past three years.

Matt O'Connor, the founder of Fathers 4 Justice, said the stunt was planned at the weekend in a pub in Shropshire. "It just shows how unbelievably lax security is at the palace," he added. "I'm so glad Hatch made it. David, unfortunately, bottled it when the police threatened to shoot him. You can't really blame him for that."

David Davis, the Tory home affairs spokesman, questioned the police's assessment of the Batman threat.

"How can anyone ever be sure these incidents are pranks and not terrorists masquerading as pranksters?" he said.

"This advertises weaknesses in our security and this long series of security failures could encourage terrorist attacks."

Palace protesters freed on bail

Jason Hatch was flanked by supporters as he left the stationTwo fathers' rights protesters behind a security breach at Buckingham Palace have been released on police bail.

Jason Hatch, 32, and David Pyke, 48, will report back to police in December pending further inquiries and liaison with the Crown Prosecution Service.

Mr Hatch, who dressed as Batman to scale the palace on Monday, said: "It was easier to get to the Queen's balcony than to see my own children."

He added that he hoped his five-hour protest had raised public awareness.
"Hopefully my children have seen it and know I haven't gone away," added Mr Hatch.
Leaning on a friend for support, an exhausted Mr Hatch said he had been frightened during the protest, but was determined to "stand and fight".

A security review now under way has started a political row after the home secretary defended police action.

Fathers 4 Justice spokesman Matt O'Connor said it was not for them to comment on security matters.
But he said the full "firepower" of the group's 10,000 members would be directed at the Labour Party, particularly as conference season begins.

"There's going to be on hell of a scrap between us and them in the run-up to the next election," he said.

PREVIOUS F4J STUNTS
Sept 2004: Protester David Chick, who is supported by F4J, scaled the London Eye
July 2004: F4J members disrupted a service and held a rooftop protest at York Minster
May 2004: Condoms full of purple flour were thrown at Tony Blair in the Commons
February 2004: Activists climbed bridges and gantries in Bristol, London and Newcastle
January 2004: One protester spent six nights on a gantry over Tamar Bridge, Plymouth
November 2003: 'Spiderman' sat on a 100ft crane near Tower Bridge for six days
May 2003: F4J began to grab headlines when masked men scaled a Plymouth family court

Struggling with palace intruders

On Tuesday three police officers were seen standing at the spot where a ladder was used for Mr Hatch's ascent. His fellow campaigner Mr Pyke, who dressed as Batman's sidekick Robin, was stopped by armed police at the scene.

Mr Hatch, from Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.
Mr Pyke, 48, also from Cheltenham, was questioned about aiding and abetting a criminal act.
Following the incident Home Secretary David Blunkett argued the Met Police had "acted correctly" in assessing the threat posed by Mr Hatch.

Later he insisted that he was "calm but not complacent" about the intrusion and said there was no reason to demand resignations "for the sake of a 24-hour headline".
But shadow home secretary David Davis said his message to police would be: "Get your act together."

He told the BBC's Today programme: "This is a bunch of amateur protesters. What on earth would we be seeing if this had been a serious terrorist attack?"
In an earlier emergency statement to the Commons, Mr Blunkett had conceded that the speed with which the intruders were able to scale the wall was "of concern".
He said police would have shot the protester if he had been judged a terror risk.
Mr Blunkett said the government had followed the recommendations of MI5 after the September 11 attacks, but added he did not believe in having security which hid prominent buildings from the public.

Police sealed it off for 27 hours, causing traffic chaos. Patrick Lennon, 46, of Dorset Avenue, Rowanfield, appeared at court in a Superman costume. David Pyke, 48, of River Leys, Swindon Village, was dressed as Robin, Hatch, 31, of Alstone Mews, came as Batman, and Mark Peacock, 30, of Toronto Road, Horfield, in Bristol, was dressed as Spiderman. April 28: A massive Fathers 4 Justice protest at Gloucestershire's county family court at Gloucester Docks was thwarted by police - so campaigners switched to Worcester Crown Court for a 24-hour sit in. May 19: Tony Blair was at the centre of a major security breach when purple powder was thrown at him from the public gallery by campaigners for Fathers 4 Justice.

The House of Commons was suspended. Jason Hatch was not among the two men directly involved.

June 18: Staff at Downing Street refused entry to members of campaign group Fathers 4 Justice despite agreeing to allow them to present a petition. About 30 local members of the fathers' rights group took part in the demonstration. Most of the 2,000 protesters dressed in purple, the international colour of equality.

June 20: Campaigners from Fathers 4 Justice chained the doors of Gloucester County Court shut. The protesters struck at night, shackling the back and front gates with purple chains to stop staff entering. They said it was a symbolic gesture on Father's Day. Jason Hatch, national co-ordinator and operations manager for Fathers 4 Justice, said: "We're barring access to judges like they've barred our access to our children." July 11: Jason Hatch was among a group of protesters who wrecked a service at York Minster. This time he was dressed in cardinal's robes. Together with fellow campaigner Andy James, who lives in Cardiff, and was clad in a black vicar's smock, the pair climbed 100ft up scaffolding on the building and displayed a 30ft black and purple banner reading "In the Name of the Father". They were later arrested and released on police bail.

August 2: Dressed as Batman again, Jason Hatch scaled the roof of Gloucester County Court at 4am. He was eventually forced down nearly 24 hours later because of heavy rain. During the protest he put up a banner reading: "This court is under new management - Fathers 4 Justice". He was joined by Robin lookalike Dave Pyke, who lives in Swindon Village, Cheltenham. Soon after Jason came down, his house was searched and officers confiscated posters, banners and two air horns.

August 10: Jason brought Birmingham to a standstill by climbing on the roof of the county court dressed as Batman. Together with fellow campaigner David Pyke, 48, who was dressed as Robin, they climbed scaffolding outside the court building and unfurled a banner reading "this court is under new management".

Rain stops roof protest by fathers

The Fathers 4 Justice protest came to an end today as thunderstorms forced Batman down from the roof of Gloucester County Court. Jason Hatch, who lives in Alstone Mews, Cheltenham, had scaled the building at 4am on Monday dressed as Batman. He unfurled a banner reading: "This court is under new management - Fathers 4 Justice." He was joined by Dave Pyke, who lives in Swindon Village, Cheltenham, as Robin.

Dave came down from the building on Monday afternoon and was arrested and charged.
Jason came down at 1am today after retrieving the banner that had been hung in front of the building.

He was arrested and held for three hours while police searched his house.
They confiscated posters, banners and two air horns.

Jason said: "It was getting a bit dangerous with the rain, thunder and lightning but this was a personal beef with that court because I have been going there for three years and have got nowhere." Both men have been charged with aggravated trespass and bailed to appear at Gloucester police station on August 20.

On Monday campaigners chained up the court buildings as part of demonstrations across the country at Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service offices and court buildings in Gloucester.

A man and a woman were arrested at 11.20am on Monday for allegedly causing criminal damage to the buildings.

Jason said 60 demonstrations took place across the country, including that by Martyn Blackwell and Andrea Hall, who dressed as Catwoman and Batman. The pair protested on the roof of Cafcass in Gloucester, over the Government's Green Paper on family law.

'My life is on hold...it's a living death'

JASON HATCH, 30, a self-employed builder from Cheltenham, says that he has never recovered from the day he came home from his job in London three years ago to find that his wife had moved out with their children, both aged under 7.

"We had had a disagreement about my working away from home and she said she did not see enough of me.I had agreed to find work closer to home. She never discussed leaving with the kids. It came as a complete surprise," Mr Hatch claimed.

His said that his wife initially prevented him from seeing the children at all and refused to go to mediation or to speak to him.

He applied to the courts hoping to get to see the children every weekend and during half of the school holidays. It took him 18 months before he was allowed supervised visits at a contact centre once every three months. Later he got a court order giving him supervised contact once every three weeks.

"My life is on hold until I can see my children properly. A lot of fathers call it a living bereavement."

He is now applying for equal contact. He believes that his lengthy and painful court battle could have been avoided if mediation sessions were compulsory.

Minster mayhem

Fathers' rights protesters storm altar and scale walls

PROTESTERS for the rights of fathers fought with churchmen yesterday as they stormed a service at York Minster.
Two other men scaled scaffolding on the building and unfurled a banner.

The chaotic scenes at the General Synod service were witnessed by the two most senior figures in the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and the Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope.Dressed as vicars, nuns and monks, a dozen campaigners for Fathers 4 Justice smashed a door and grappled with stewards in an attempt to hijack the high altar.
A glass panel was broken and a statue of the Virgin Mary smashed. Some of the protesters burst through the melee and rushed up the nave towards the altar.

Matt O'Connor, the protest's leader, was brought crashing to the ground by a rugby tackle from a steward. He was dragged out, shouting: 'Shame on you.

Justice for fathers.' Punches were thrown as the demonstrators tried to escape the grip of stewards. Eight made it to the altar where they linked arms and tried to halt the service.
Dr Williams told them: 'This won't do you any good, you know.' The congregation of 1,000 defiantly continued with a hymn, There's a Wideness in God's Mercy, and the Minster organist tried to drown out chants - until the Archbishop tried a different tack.

He offered the protesters two minutes to make their point, and Mr O'Connor was allowed to say from the lectern: 'We are here in the name of fathers, in the name of justice, in the name of our children and in the name of love, to ask how in the name of religion the Church would allow 100 children a day to lose contact with their fathers?

'Where are you? You have failed fathers and you have failed children.' The congregation emerged from the service to find that two demonstrators had taken advantage of the chaos inside to climb the Minster.

Jason Hatch, 28, a painter and decorator from Cheltenham, was dressed in cardinal's robes, while Andy James, 34, from Cardiff, was wearing a vicar's smock.

They stayed there for some ten hours before coming down, when they were arrested.
Earlier police had taken away another 12 demonstrators for questioning.

County will be brought to standstill

Activists are threatening to strike Gloucester Docks, Gloucestershire Airport, RAF Fairford and Kemble Airfield, the M4 and M5 and train stations throughout the county. The group's aim is to bring mass disruption and economic damage to the UK. Campaigners have given ministers one month to respond to their 50-page document, called A Blueprint for Family Law in the 21st Century.

Underlining the need for urgent, radical reform of family law, it demands separated parents have equal contact with their children, wants allegations by mothers to be properly investigated and calls for governing bodies to be accountable for decisions in family law courts.
Tony Blair was given the document on June 25 and Fathers 4 Justice is threatening to start its campaign of disruption on July 23.

Jason Hatch, from Cheltenham, the group's national co-ordinator and operations manager, said: "We've distributed the blueprint to Tony Blair and all relevant politicians. They have a month to respond or we'll be forced to take action.

"We've already looked at ways of bringing the ports, train stations, motorways and airports to a standstill. I have a list as long as my arm where we would like to strike.

"The gloves are off and the country will be effectively closed down unless we are listened to.
"The economic damage that will be caused if we are not listened to is not something the Government would want so they will have to sit up and take notice.

"There are a lot of innocent people who will be affected but there are a lot of innocent dads out there who have been affected deeply because they have been unable to see their children.
"We would rather not go to these lengths but we've got to a stage now where we've got nothing to lose."

Dads' rights group in lock-out at court

The group, which has flour-bombed Prime Minister Tony Blair and scaled the Severn Bridge in Bristol dressed as superheroes, also chained up the gates of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Services building in London Road. Police were called and attended the scenes with locksmiths to gain entry to the two buildings.

Jason Hatch, of Cheltenham, a spokesman for Fathers 4 Justice, said he did not know who had locked the doors, but added: "We have denied them access to the court building in the same way that they have denied us access to our children on Father's Day."We are promising a summer of mass disruption until the law is changed so that fathers have 50-50 presumption of contact with their children." Several members of the 7,500-strong group were due in court in Western-super-Mare today to answer charges relating to the Bristol incident.

A manager from the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, in London Road, had arrived early to get some extra work done, only to find she could not get in.

She said: "It's so disruptive and it just gets in the way of our job. They are just shooting the messenger." Police spokeswoman Kate Nelmes said: "At 7.10am we received a call from the county court in Kimbrose Way saying that their doors had been padlocked.

"There was nobody there but it is believed that a calling card from the Fathers 4 Justice group was left.

"The back door had been superglued and is being treated as an offence of criminal damage and is being investigated." She appealed for anyone who may have seen what happened to call police on 0845 090 1234 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Fathers 4 Justice is a civil rights group which campaigns for the right of children to see both of their parents and grandparents.

They say that current children's laws protect only the mother in access issues, effectively working for their best interest rather than the child's.

Aggrieved dads stage bridge protest

Four members of pressure group Fathers-4-Justice have staged a protest on the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol.

The four men climbed on to a support at the Leigh Woods end of the bridge on Monday morning dressed as Batman, Robin, Superman and Spiderman.

At 0530 GMT, they unveiled a banner reading: "Fathers-4-Justice, Fighting for the right to see your kids."

Spokesman Jeff Skinner said the men apologised for any inconvenience to commuters who were denied access to the bridge.

"We and thousands of other fathers in this country are denied access to our children every day by this country's archaic family laws," he said.

" We apologise or any inconvenience but we haven't seen our children for years "

The protesters said they would be staying for the "foreseeable future", despite the poor weather.

The bridge has been closed to traffic, although not pedestrians.

On Monday afternoon, one of the four men - dressed as Superman - came down from the bridge and left the protest.

Last week another Fathers-4-justice member carried out a similar protest on Plymouth's Tamar bridge which lasted seven days.

It is thought that as many as 15 members of Fathers-4-Justice met in Bristol on Monday from the west Country, coming from Cheltenham, Swindon, Lyme Regis, Worcester, Gloucester and Bristol.

'Civil disruption'

One of the protesters, who gave his names as Jason, said: "We apologise or any inconvenience but we haven't seen our children for years.

"We've been fighting the law courts but getting absolutely nowhere."

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said: "All efforts are being made to peacefully resolve the situation as quickly as possible, though there is no indication of when the protest will end."

On Monday, Fathers-4-Justice issued a statement saying that today's protests were the start of a "full-scale national campaign of civil disruption".