Dave 'Spiderman' Chick - one man can make a huge difference

Twenty years ago, a legendary campaigner made national news for his one-man protests over fathers’ rights to see their children

- DARREN SMITH

What led to the protests?

I have one little girl, born in December 2000. I'd met her mum in 1997, but ten months after the birth it wasn't working out. She'd already been to a solicitor when she suggested "shall we have a little break?" and then changed the locks.

The family courts system wanted me and my daughter out of each other's lives - I was awarded two hours' supervised contact on the first four Saturdays of every month, but for the next three years, I saw my daughter for less than one day per year in total hours, and the family law system wouldn't enforce the order.

The solicitors are there to drag it out as long as they can, make you fight as much as they can, to get as much money as they can - and with family law, it's all done in secret, so there's no accountability. The secret courts are meant to protect the children - but they didn't protect my child.

I went through five family law solicitors in the end. On one occasion, I was found guilty of harassment of my ex, and my solicitor told me the recorded evidence I had proving my innocence was inadmissible in court. On appeal, it was heard, and my conviction was quashed, but by then, I'd served a sentence under curfew and tagging, all down to my solicitor.

How long before you went outside of the system?

We split up in October 2001, when my daughter was ten months, and by August 2002, when the system and solicitors had repeatedly failed us, I decided to start climbing cranes to raise public awareness of what they were doing. I didn't plan to do loads of them; I thought climbing up a crane might jolt the system.

Why a crane?