| Fathers 4 Justice | |
| Formation: | 2003 |
| Founded Date: | 2001 |
| Founder: | Matt O'Connor |
| Location: | London, England |
| Homepage: | http://www.fathers-4-justice.org |
Fathers 4 Justice (or F4J) is a fathers' rights organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2003, the group aims to gain public and parliamentary support for changes in UK legislation on fathers' rights, mainly using stunts and protests, often conducted in costume.
Fathers 4 Justice was founded in the UK by Matt O'Connor, a marketing consultant.[1] He is the sole shareholder and a director of Fathers For Justice Ltd.[2]
On 21 October 2003, campaigners Eddie "Goldtooth" Gorecki and Jonathan "Jolly" Stanesby scaled the Royal Courts of Justice, dressed respectively as Batman and Robin.[3] The following day, the group's members protested through London in a military tank in support of Goreckwi and Stanesby.[4] Nine days later, David Chick climbed a 120feet crane near Tower Bridge, London while dressed as Spider-Man. The Metropolitan Police set up a cordon around the area that disrupted traffic through some of East London for several days.[5] Chick was subsequently cleared of criminal charges.[6]
In 2004, Stanesby carried out a "citizen's arrest" of Hodge at a conference, handcuffing himself to her and stating: "Margaret Hodge, I'm arresting you for covering up child abuse." Both Stanseby and Jason Hatch (who had also attempted to handcuff himself to Hodge) were later cleared by a jury of charges of false imprisonment.[7] On 19 May 2004, an alert was caused when two members of the group threw purple flour bombs at Tony Blair during Prime Minister's Questions at the House of Commons.[8] Charged with public order offences, activist Guy Harrison was fined £600,[9] and Ron Davis given a conditional discharge. Following the House of Commons incident, The Times wrote that the group "has succeeded in becoming the most prominent guerrilla pressure group in Britain ... within eighteen months of its founding".[10] In September 2004, member Jason Hatch climbed the walls of Buckingham Palace dressed as Batman. All charges relating to his protest were later dropped.[11] Also in September, David Chick climbed the London Eye, forcing the attraction to close. He was found not guilty of charges of causing a public nuisance.[12]
In May 2005, campaigners dressed as superheroes protested on top of the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield during the World Snooker Championship.[13] Protester Ray Barry climbed St Peter's Collegiate Church in Wolverhampton on Fathers Day in 2005. He was cleared of a charge of a public order offence, and then repeated the protest on Christmas Day.[14] On 27 September 2005, protester Guy Harrison climbed the Palace of Westminster unveiling a banner stating "Does Blair care? For Fawkes sake change family law". A jury acquitted him of the charge of committing a public nuisance offence.[15]
During January 2006, the newspaper The Sun published a story in which it claimed F4J members planned to kidnap Leo Blair, the young son of former Prime Minister Tony Blair "for a few hours as a symbolic gesture". The police said they were aware of such a plan,[16] but added it had probably never progressed beyond the "chattering stage".[17] Founder O'Connor condemned the alleged plot and threatened to shut down the group because of it. Within days, Fathers 4 Justice had been disbanded.[18] The group re-formed in May of the same year, and protested during the showing of the BBC lottery show The National Lottery: Jet Set. The show was taken off-air for several minutes after six Fathers 4 Justice protesters ran from the audience onto the stage displaying posters.[19]
In March 2006, F4J member and barrister Michael Cox was jailed for refusing to pay money he owed to the Child Support Agency. Cox told a hearing in Southampton he refused to pay on principle, as he had joint custody of his children, and his former wife wrote to the court in support of him.[20]
On 8 June 2008, two fathers from Fathers 4 Justice climbed onto the roof of Labour Party deputy leader Harriet Harman's house wearing superhero-style costumes and calling themselves "Captain Conception" and "Cash Gordon". One of the pair, Mark Harris, said he wanted fathers to have the same rights as their children's mothers' new partners. He also said they would not come down unless Harman read her book, Family Court Hell.[21] In the same month, Bristol Family Court was evacuated after a fire alarm was set off in the building during a F4J protest outside the building.[22] On 9 July 2008, Fathers 4 Justice members Nigel Ace and Tony Ashby, this time in Spider-Man and Batman outfits, climbed Harman's roof and draped a banner that read "Stop The War On Dads".[23]
In July 2011, F4J founder Matt O'Connor staged a hunger strike just outside UK Prime Minister David Cameron's home in Oxfordshire, demanding that he honour what O'Connor said were pledges about grandparents' rights to see their grandchildren and over shared parenting.[24]
In 2012, F4J staged a naked protest inside the Oxford Street branch of retailer Marks and Spencer in order to protest the shop's advertising on parenting website Mumsnet, which F4J believes "promotes gender hatred".[25]
In June 2013, Paul Manning glued a picture of his 11-year-old son to John Constable's 1821 painting The Hay Wain in the National Gallery in London. Two weeks earlier, Tim Haries had spraypainted the word "Help" on a portrait of Queen Elizabeth at Westminster Abbey. The group's founder, Matt O'Connor, announced that he would target other art works in order to highlight his campaign.[26] Fathers 4 Justice publicly withdrew support for Manning in January 2014, following alleged breaches of their Terms & Conditions.[27]
On 9 August 2013, Fathers 4 Justice protester Martyn Judd climbed onto the balcony of the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel to protest what he asserted to be the inequality of fathers' treatment in family court cases during a CAFCASS conference at the hotel. The protest came to an end when sprinklers flooded the hotel.[28]
On 8 January 2014, Tim Haries was found guilty of defacing the portrait of the Queen.[29] On 5 February 2014, Haries was sentenced by Judge McCreath at Southwark Crown Court to six months in custody.[30]
On 30 November 2015, two men involved with the group were arrested after a few hours of standing on the roof of Queens Gallery, an art gallery on Buckingham Palace grounds.[31]
Three Fathers4Justice protesters stormed the stage of ITV's Loose Women shouting "No Kids No Cash", on 15 June 2016. The show was briefly taken off air.[32]
On 22 August 2016, Matt O’Connor, a 49-year-old campaigner for Fathers4Justice, walked on stage dressed as a priest during a live broadcast of the Rose of Tralee during Cavan Rose Lisa Reilly's interview with host Dáithí Ó Sé. He was removed from the stage by security staff before being taken away by Gardaí.[33]
On 4 September 2018, streamed live on the Fathers4Justice Facebook page, Matt O'Connor and his fellow protester Paul Robinson staged a messy protest at an ASDA Supermarket in Peterborough by pouring Coco Pops and milk all over the floor in the cereal isle. The pair claimed that Kellogg's latest slogan "Loved By Kids, Approved By Mums" was promoting cereal discrimination against dads. The pair had paid for the items afterwards when the police were called to the protest.[34]
Members of the group have been accused of conducting intimidating attacks in order to upset court staff, family lawyers and Members of Parliament.[35] During protests outside the offices of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS), individual case workers were identified by name. One office of CAFCASS was forcibly entered by F4J members, who detained an unnamed employee. No criminal proceedings are known to have resulted.[36]
Former members of the group have claimed Fathers4Justice/the Matt O' Connor family, have "lost its way" by being sidetracked from reforming family law, and descending into personal attacks on Twitter, libel (for which they were sued), and allegations of illegal acts such as putting an MP under surveillance and tracking her movements with a GPS tracking unit.[37] Former members, who do not agree with Matt O'Connor's leadership, formed the New Fathers 4 Justice group, in 2008.
An unintended result of the F4J campaign has been the exposure of flaws in security at Buckingham Palace, resulting in security enquiries or reviews there[38] and at the House of Commons.[39]