Santas planned Blair kidnapping

2006-01-19 07:54

London - Extremist fathers' rights campaigners met in a pub to discuss kidnapping the youngest son of British Prime Minister Tony Blair while dressed as Santa Claus, The Sun said in its Thursday edition.

In a second successive front-page report about the alleged plot to seize Leo Blair, the newspaper said four members of a splinter group of the Fathers 4 Justice organisation were warned off by police who overheard the discussion.

The mass circulation tabloid quoted Graham Manson, a member of The Real Fathers 4 Justice, as saying: "They were told by SO12 (the Metropolitan Police's Special Branch) that they knew what they were up to - and that they would be shot if they tried to carry out their plan."

The discussion was said to have taken place in a "seedy London pub" following a December 9 Fathers 4 Justice march through the British capital in which all protesters were dressed as Father Christmas.

Followed by police

But they were said to have been followed by police who had been warned of another plot to firebomb a Family Court service office, which liaises between parents and children in divorce cases.

Special Branch officers visited the plotters' homes the following day and told to abandon the plan. The Sun said two of the men had criminal records for violence.

Fathers 4 Justice founder Matt O'Connor revealed on Wednesday night that he was disbanding the organisation, which campaigns for better child access for fathers after custody cases, because of the negative publicity.

Although no official police or Downing Street confirmation was given of the alleged plot, O'Connor, 38, said "extremists" had "undermined the position and credibility" of the group.

"I regret to say that three years after starting the organisation, we're going to cease and bring it to a close," he told Channel 4 News television.

"What these people (the extremists) are doing is undermining the very good work that people in this organisation have done."

The Sun's Wednesday edition said Special Branch detectives had been monitoring the breakaway group from some time.

O'Connor denied to Channel 4 News that he passed on information about the alleged plot because of infighting in the group, which has staged a number of high-profile stunts around Britain in recent years.

Their demonstrations - in which protesters are often dressed as superheroes - usually involve breaching security and occupying notable landmarks.

Activists have in the past egged Blair's car, scaled St Paul's Cathedral and the London Eye ferris wheel. They once hit Blair with purple powder during a speech in parliament.

Protesters even scaled onto a ledge at Buckingham Palace, the official London residence of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.

- SAPA