Crawley father protests on Jeremy Corbyn's roof

Crawley man Steve Rowland, from New Fathers 4 Justice, took part in a roof top protest at Jeremy Corbyn's home. SUS-160608-094012001

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A father from Crawley has been revealed as one of two men who took part in a rooftop protest at Jeremy Corbyn's home yesterday (Friday, August 5).

Steve Rowland, 32, dressed as superhero Deadpool, climbed onto the roof of Mr Corbyn’s Islington home just after 10am, demanding to speak to the Labour leader.

Steve and fellow protestor Bobby Smith vowed not to come down until Mr Corbyn listened to their complaints about fathers’ rights.

Speaking on LBC radio, Mr Smith said: “I tried to talk to Jeremy in March and he was very rude to me. I wanted to talk to him about his role in blocking shared parenting of 50-50 contact back in 2011.

“He was part of a panel that blocked the Children and Families Act.”

He said he felt the pair had ‘no choice’ but to protest.

The New Fathers 4 Justice website quoted Mr Rowland as saying: “I run ‘Stop the family courts and Cafcass from destroying our children’s future’.

“You are not going to beat the system. It’s been going for years. A lot of fathers are angry, they are hurt. How can this happen? We have to try a new way now.”

A spokesperson for New Fathers 4 Justice said: “Over the years many politicians before elections have promised to reform the family court system.

“But once in to power, those promises are quickly ditched or watered down.

“We are not going to let politicians ignore what’s happening in the secret family courts and have more dads ready to climb roofs.

“They promised equality and transparency but all we get is ‘smoke and mirrors’ changes rather than a modern accountable family court system.

“New Fathers 4 Justice campaigns for equal rights for fathers in divorce and separation proceedings and reform of the family courts.

“We want nothing less than a legal presumption of equal contact for a child with their parents if they split up, and the abolition of the deeply controversial, undemocratic secret court system that still exists within the ‘family’ division despite forty years of inequality and protest.”

The splinter group says it is not associated with Fathers4Justice UK or its founder Matt O’Connor.

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