We're being failed by the courts

A Fathers' rights campaigner has welcomed the comments by a senior judge who said the legal system is failing divorced dads. Jeff Skinner, the Bristol area co-ordinator of Fathers 4 Justice, said the judge had promoted the group's cause with his comments.

Mr Justice James Munby, a leading family judge, said he felt ashamed after dealing with a man who had fought unsuccessfully for five years to see his daughter.

He said there should be tougher penalties for mothers who do not let their former partners see their children at the agreed time and that there should be skilled social work intervention for children and warring parents.

Mr Skinner said: "What this judge has said is what we have been shouting from the rooftops for the past 18 months.

"Of course I welcome his comments as it promotes our cause.
"But I would also say that at the heart of this is a man who cannot see his children and my thoughts go out to him.

"The judge gave him a glowing reference but admitted that he could not do any more for him because of the way the system is discriminating against fathers." The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been forced to give up his five-year battle for access to his seven-year-old daughter after 43 court hearings.

His ex-wife had continually ignored orders allowing him contact with the child.

Mr Skinner said: "Any parent, whether it is a man or a woman, should pay the penalty for breaking the law.

"I just find it terrible that some poor bloke has to go through this, and be discriminated against like this." Justice Munby attacked the length of the case and the number of judges involved, 16 in 43 hearings, and has recommended that in future just one judge should deal with one case.
He said: "There is much wrong with our system and the time has come for us to recognise that fact and to face up to it honestly.

"If we do not, we risk forfeiting public confidence." He said the system made victims of the fathers more often than the mothers.