A woman staged a protest in support of New Fathers 4 Justice campaign group before being moved on by police

An activist campaigning for family court reform scaled an Ottery building to stage a protest on Saturday (October 31).

Carol Wheeler, 44, took up position on top of Poppy’s coffee shop in Broad Street, where she planned to stay for the duration of the town’s carnival – but was moved on by police before the night’s festivities began.

The Longdogs Close resident has joined ranks with campaign group New Fathers 4 Justice to make her voice heard and previously joined five other activists to scale the arch at Hyde Park corner in London.

Carol also put up a banner referring to a ‘save the badgers’ campaign.

Speaking about the sign, she said: “I am disgusted that I have been on protests and there were more people out protesting about badgers than there were for family court reform.”

PC Kevin Hill of the Ottery neighbourhood police team said: “We did not want her on the roof with lots of children around.

“It was between about 5pm and 6pm that we asked her to get down before the carnival started.”

New Fathers 4 Justice campaigns for equal rights for fathers in divorce and separation proceedings and reform of family courts – it is a splinter group and not associated with Fathers4Justice UK.