Day of the Dad Demo, London, Father’s Day, 2004

Fathers 4 Justice (or F4J) is a fathers’ rights organisation in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Founded in 2001, 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. Former F4J members, who do not agree with Matt O'Connor's leadership, formed the

New Fathers 4 Justice New Fathers 4 Justice is a UK-based direct action fathers' rights group campaigning for the rights of fathers to see their children. It is a splinter group of Fathers 4 Justice. History New Fathers 4 Justice (NF4J) is a fathers' rights group. I ...

group, in 2008.

History

Fathers 4 Justice was founded in the UK by Matt O'Connor, a marketing consultant.Deborah Ros
"Matt O'Connor: The man behind Fathers4Justice"
''The Independent'', 4 July 2006 He is the sole shareholder and a director of Fathers For Justice Ltd. Fathers For Justice stated aim is to champion the causes of equal parenting, family law reform, and equal contact for divorced parents with children. It is best known for its campaigning techniques of protest stunts, with participants often dressed as comic

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

es, and frequently climbing public buildings, bridges, and monuments. Stunts have included supporters forcibly entering courts dressed in

Father Christmas Father Christmas is the traditional English name for the personification of Christmas. Although now known as a Christmas gift-bringer, and typically considered to be synonymous with Santa Claus, he was originally part of a much older and unrel ...

outfits, putting the Government's Minister for Children in handcuffs, and group member Jason Hatch climbing onto

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

dressed as

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

. They have also protested by handcuffing two other government ministers. 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 Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

(for which they were sued), and allegations of illegal acts such as putting an MP under

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...

and tracking her movements with a

GPS tracking unit A GPS tracking unit, geotracking unit, satellite tracking unit, or simply tracker is a navigation device normally on a vehicle, asset, person or animal that uses satellite navigation to determine its movement and determine its WGS84 UTM ge ...

Activities

On 17 December 2002, O'Connor and a small group of supporters staged their first protest by storming the

Lord Chancellor's Office The Lord Chancellor's Department was a United Kingdom government department answerable to the Lord Chancellor with jurisdiction over England and Wales. Created in 1885 as the Lord Chancellor's Office with a small staff to assist the Lord Chancell ...

dressed as

. In January 2003, O'Connor officially founded Fathers 4 Justice. The group targeted the homes of

family court Family courts were originally created to be a Court of Equity convened to decide matters and make orders in relation to family law, including custody of children, and could disregard certain legal requirements as long as the petitioner/plaintif ...

judges, and family lawyers' homes and offices, with protests. On 21 October 2003, campaigners Eddie "Goldtooth" Gorecki and Jonathan "Jolly" Stanesby scaled the

Royal Courts of Justice The Royal Courts of Justice, commonly called the Law Courts, is a court building in Westminster which houses the High Court and Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The High Court also sits on circuit and in other major cities. Designed by Ge ...

, dressed respectively as

and Robin. The following day, the group's members protested through London in a military

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

in support of Goreckwi and Stanesby. Nine days later, David Chick climbed a crane near

Tower Bridge Tower Bridge is a Listed building#Grade I, Grade I listed combined Bascule bridge, bascule and Suspended-deck suspension bridge, suspension bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894, designed by Horace Jones (architect), Horace Jones and e ...

, London while dressed as

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

. The

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

set up a cordon around the area that disrupted traffic through some of East London for several days. Chick was subsequently cleared of criminal charges and published a ghost-written

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

in February 2006. On the morning of 22 December 2003, four campaigners — Eddie Gorecki, Jolly Stanesby, Michael Sadeh and Steve Battlershill — dressed as Father Christmas and climbed Tower Bridge in London. They hung up a banner calling for the resignation of the Minister for Children,

Margaret Hodge Dame Margaret Eve Hodge, Lady Hodge, (née Oppenheimer, formerly Watson; born 8 September 1944) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Barking since 1994. A member of the Labour Party, she previously served as ...

, whom they held responsible for perceived inequalities in family law. The four were charged with

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...

, but the charge was dropped at the start of the trial a year later. In 2004, Stanesby carried out a "

citizen's arrest A citizen's arrest is an arrest made by a private citizen – that is, a person who is not acting as a sworn law-enforcement official. In common law jurisdictions, the practice dates back to medieval England and the English common law, in which ...

" 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 False imprisonment or unlawful imprisonment occurs when a person intentionally restricts another person’s movement within any area without legal authority, justification, or the restrained person's permission. Actual physical restraint is ...

. On 19 May 2004, an alert was caused when two members of the group threw purple

flour bomb Flour bomb is a fragile container (e.g. a paper bag) filled with flour for the purpose to be thrown at a person or object to cause an inconvenient and messy stain, called flour bombing. Flour bombs and flour bombing are a classic protest method ...

s at

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

during

Prime Minister's Questions Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs, officially known as Questions to the Prime Minister, while colloquially known as Prime Minister's Question Time) is a constitutional convention in the United Kingdom, currently held as a single session every W ...

at the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

. Charged with

public order In criminology, public-order crime is defined by Siegel (2004) as "crime which involves acts that interfere with the operations of society and the ability of people to function efficiently", i.e., it is behaviour that has been labelled criminal ...

offences, activist Guy Harrison was fined £600, and Ron Davis given a

conditional discharge A discharge is a type of sentence imposed by a court whereby no punishment is imposed. An absolute discharge is an unconditional discharge whereby the court finds that a crime has technically been committed but that any punishment of the defend ...

. Following the House of Commons incident, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' wrote that the group "has succeeded in becoming the most prominent guerrilla pressure group in Britain ... within eighteen months of its founding". In September 2004, member Jason Hatch climbed the walls of Buckingham Palace dressed as Batman. All charges relating to his protest were later dropped. Also in September, David Chick climbed the

London Eye The London Eye, or the Millennium Wheel, is a cantilevered observation wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. It is Europe's tallest cantilevered observation wheel, and is the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United ...

, forcing the attraction to close. He was found not guilty of charges of causing a public nuisance. In May 2005, campaigners dressed as superheroes protested on top of the

Crucible Theatre The Crucible Theatre (often referred to simply as "The Crucible") is a theatre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England which opened in 1971. Although it hosts regular theatrical performances, it is best known for hosting professional snooker's m ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

during the

World Snooker Championship The World Snooker Championship is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the wealthiest, with total prize money in 2022 of £2,395,000, including £500,000 for the winner. First held in 1927 Wor ...

. Five years later, campaigners interrupted an interview with

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he rea ...

, causing the BBC to cut to a pre-recorded video segment. Protester Ray Barry climbed St Peter's Collegiate Church in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

Fathers Day Father's Day is a holiday of honoring fatherhood and paternal bonds, as well as the influence of fathers in society. In Catholic countries of Europe, it has been celebrated on 19 March as Saint Joseph's Day since the Middle Ages. In the Unite ...

in 2005. He was cleared of a charge of a public order offence, and then repeated the protest on

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

. On 27 September 2005, protester Guy Harrison climbed the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

unveiling a banner stating "Does Blair care? For

Fawkes Fawkes is a surname of Norman-French origin, first appearing in the British Isles after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. The surname may be a corruption of the Norman surname Vaux, which means valley. Notably, Guy Fawkes was sometimes reco ...

sake change family law". A jury acquitted him of the charge of committing a public nuisance offence. In November 2005, the group received negative publicity when the prime-time

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

programme ''

Tonight With Trevor McDonald ''Tonight'' (often referred to as ''The Tonight Programme'') is a British current affairs programme, produced by ITV Studios (formerly Granada Television) and ITN for the ITV network, replacing the long-running investigative series ''World ...

'' appeared to expose some of its members as violent and obnoxious in their behaviour. However, counter-claims have been made that these individuals were never members in the first place and that the programme gave no right to reply. Some members were expelled, but the organisation defended its position and attacked the documentary. On 23 November 2005, Fathers 4 Justice ended its truce with the

Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) is a non-departmental public body in England set up to promote the welfare of children and families involved in family court. It was formed in April 2001 under the provisions ...

(CAFCASS) and the

Child Support Agency The Child Support Agency (CSA) was a delivery arm of the Department for Work and Pensions (Child Maintenance Group) in Great Britain and the former Department for Social Development in Northern Ireland. Launched on 5 April 1993, the CSA was to ...

(CPS), calling for a public inquiry into family law. 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

"for a few hours as a symbolic gesture". The police said they were aware of such a plan, but added it had probably never progressed beyond the "chattering stage".

Downing Street Downing Street is a street in Westminster in London that houses the official residences and offices of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Situated off Whitehall, it is long, and a few minutes' walk ...

refused to confirm or deny the existence of a plot as it does not comment on matters concerning the prime minister's children. 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. The group re-formed in May of the same year, and protested during the showing of the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

History

Activities

Early Day Motion 210

Criticism

Impact

See also

References

External links