Roger 'The Court Jester' crawford

Meppershall dad dresses up as court jester in fight to see his daughter
An angry father who has been banned from seeing his teenage daughter for the past 15 years, took drastic action by protesting for fathers' rights on a tower rooftop.

60-year-old Roger Crawford climbed to the top of the Carfax Tower in Oxford where his estranged daughter and wife live, where he dressed up as a court jester and protested against the family court system.

He took part in the protest last Thursday afternoon, along with a another New Fathers 4 Justice member, who dressed up as the Incredible Hulk.

Mr Crawford, of Shefford Road, Meppershall, held a banner over the roof top saying ' Fathers are for life, not just conception' and another with a message to his daughter saying 'Heather' and 'My love for you.'

He told the Chronicle: "I have been through the courts to try to get access to my daughter, but I am allowed no contact with her when I have done nothing wrong.

"The court system really is a compete joke, they seem to punish non-resident parents and that's what they have done to me.

"They have stopped me seeing my daughter for no good reason."

He added: "I am extremely angry with the whole process and I will keep protesting in Oxford in the hope that Heather hears about it and maybe one day will realise how much I care for her and how much I want contact with her.

"But I'm not doing this for me I'm doing this for fathers everywhere. It's just not right how they are treated."

Mr Crawford who has already protested twice in Oxford this year, was denied access to his now 17-year-old daughter Heather, when his relationship broke down.

He carried on seeing her until she was two and half years old, but was denied access after that point by her mother.

He went through the court system, but despite a High Court judge ruling that full access should be given to him, the family court in Oxford denied him any access to Heather.

He added: "Not being allowed contact with Heather has just been awful.

"I would describe the feeling as a living bereavement.

"Of course no parent should ever have to bury a child I understand that must be awful, but it is it similar.

"In some ways it's worse because you know that your child is out there and you're not allowed to contact them.

"I will never give up hope, that's what keeps me going and I know hat there is a powerful bond between a parent and children and that just shouldn't be broken.

"I just hope that one day Heather will realise that as well."

A video of the protest has been posted onto popular website YouTube.

Posted by New Fathers 4 Justice Bristol at 03:11 | 0 comments  

Pair stage protest at top of Carfax Tower

Protestors dressed as the Incredible Hulk and a court jester have staged a demonstration on top of Oxford's Carfax Tower.

They're both members of a group calling itself 'New Fathers 4 Justice' - a splinter group from the original Fathers4Justice, which has now disbanded.

One of the protestors, Roger Crawford, 60, claims he hasn't been able to see his daughter for 15 years. The pair paid to enter the Carfax Tower just before 11.30am on Friday 19 June. When at the top, they started their demonstration, unfurling banners, and refusing to come down.

Roger Crawford, 60, from Bedfordshire, and Peter Smith, 33, from Bristol, were given a 5pm deadline by police to come down.

The protest ended just after 2.00pm when a pre-booked group of schoolchildren turned up hoping to go up the Tower. The protestors decided to end their demonstration so the school trip could go ahead.

No arrests were made and both protesters left the Tower waving to the passing cars and crowds watching.

Posted by New Fathers 4 Justice Bristol at 03:08 |  

A fathers’ group staged a demonstration outside the new play by Bristol playwright Catherine Johnson.

Half a dozen members of New Fathers 4 Justice, an offshoot of the original campaign group for fathers’ rights, gathered in their trademark superhero costumes outside Bristol’s Old Vic Theatre in King Street.


Captain America, two Incredibles and Batman were among those holding banners and handing out leaflets to people going to see the play Suspension. Johnson, who became a household name after the success of Abba musical-turned-film Mamma Mia!, was inspired to write her new work after the Father’s 4 Justice protest on Clifton Suspension Bridge in 2004.

The demonstrators said they were there to support the play, and wanted to highlight the issue of fathers’ rights.

Roy Booth, aka Batman, is a 54-year-old father-of-two from Hotwells who works at the Citizens Advice Bureau. He said: “I joined New Fathers 4 Justice a year ago; this is to stand up for fathers who get a really raw deal in court.

“This play brings that to light, so we’re here to support it.”

The demo was attended by suspension bridge protest veterans Pat Lennon and Jason Hatch, the latter best known for his Buckingham Palace balcony protest five years ago.

Bristol coordinator and sales rep Nigel Ace, 41, of Clevedon said: “Dads only want the same right of access as mum’s latest boyfriend.

“Why is it that if a mother finds a new man, or any number of new men, they are presumed fine to be with your children from day one?

“They suffer no police checks, they make no court appearances, they simply move in.

“Meanwhile, the birth father has to go through family court hell to even gain limited access to the child or children that are his and who he loves. ‘

Last night’s demo was intended as a forerunner to a national campaign of direct action.

The group’s next appearance is due at a St Patrick’s Day march in Belfast next week.

Posted by New Fathers 4 Justice Bristol at 15:09 | 0 comments  

A jester handed out leaflets outside Oxford Crown Court, in a protest over access to his daughter.



New Fathers for Justice campaigner Roger Crawford donned the traditional jesters hat and held a placard which read “Family Courts: Breaking Hearts, Destroying Lives,” during his four-hour protest in St Aldate’s. Mr Crawford, 60, said he had only seen his 16-year-old daughter Heather in courts since she was two-and-a-half years old.

The Bedfordshire man said he was protesting outside the court as his case had been heard there because his daughter lived in Thame.

Mr Crawford, who handed out leaflets detailing his plight between 10.15am and 2.15pm, said a court order prevented him from contacting his daughter.

He added: “I got dressed as a jester because I think the family court system is a joke. This is the only way, through publicity, that I can get any message to my daughter that I still love her.”


Here is Rogers story.

After the breakdown of Roger’s marriage, he met a new girl who was also going through a marriage break up. After sometime, they agreed to move in together especially in the light of them expecting a baby.

Strangely, however, Roger’s girlfriend Shirley, decided that she would stay married to her current husband and go ahead with the pregnancy (Roger’s child to be). Roger’s daughter, Heather was born in April 1992. However, the Mother decided without any consultation with Roger to register the daughter in her husband’s name. The husband knew she was Roger’s!!!
Still Shirley, the mother, insisted that she would move in with Roger and Roger continued seeing her, and his daughter, at very regular intervals. Roger still went on seeing Shirley and H. very often until H. was two and a half. At that age she had started to talk, and contact was abruptly stopped. At this, it finally dawned on Roger that he had been ‘tricked’ . He felt utterly devastated. He tried to cope with the fact that his girlfriend wanted him out of her life. To cope, he tried to put it out of his mind that he ever fathered a child. He just wanted to put it all behind him.

Of course, you just cannot forget a child and Roger missed his daughter.

After a year, Roger made contact the mother and he received regular updates on his daughter’s progress, and photographs. Then Shirley’s husband died of a heart attack. Roger thought at last, Shirley would at least tell H. she had a father - indeed Roger was promised this - but it never happened of course and when H. was ten, Roger insisted that she was told. “She doesn’t need a father”, Roger was told by the mother, so the whole grisly business of going to mediation, (none of what was agreed there was implemented) and then the Family Court, was started. The Court at least insisted that H. was told. “She has the right to know” said the court.

Roger now believes her mind was poisoned from the start..

There was to be no contact, as Heather did not want it, but Roger was to receive regular reports etc. Then, Roger was taken to the High Court for a complete ban on all contact and communication, but the Judge refused the mothers demand and said he should be given a trial period of contact “as it is obvious you care for your daughter very much”, but then referred the case back to Oxford where the Judge ignored everything the High Court Judge had recommended and Roger came away with nothing.

Other than in the High Court, Roger has not seen his daughter for over fourteen years. He has had no information about her for over two years now. Roger’s main gripe is that the Family Courts are adversarial, they pitch parent against parent and child against parent. No effort was made towards reconciliation. The child’s wishes, no matter how distorted by malice, are sacrosanct.

Would they be so if the child said she didn’t want to go to school? Why, then, is the vitally important matter of knowing her father is not an ogre so ignored? Roger has a Court Order against him not to try and make any contact or have any news of H until she is seventeen.

Roger believes that Heather is still ‘poisoned’ against him and he has given up hope of seeing her again, at least for many years. He was suddenly banned from seeing Heather by the court. Roger’s mother died earlier this year without ever seeing H or H knowing her, and so he is unable to keep his promise to her that one day she would see her granddaughter.

The object of his campaigning is to try and prevent other fathers being treated this way and going down the same road, possibly taking their children with them.

Posted by New Fathers 4 Justice Bristol at 15:07 |