Spider-Man arrested for harassing ex-wife

Mar 17 2008 By James Cartledge

A FORMER Birmingham civil servant who occupied a church roof dressed as Spider-Man has been arrested on suspicion of harassing his ex-wife.

Fathers' rights activist Ray Barry, who worked at Jobcentre Plus, in Hagley Road, Edgbaston, was quizzed after distributing a leaflet containing details of his marriage split.

He twice scaled St Peter's Church, Wolverhampton, in 2005, as part of the Fathers 4 Justice campaign and now plans to stand for election on a family law reform ticket.

"The leaflet details my belief that the family courts do not deliver justice and so I have to seek it differently, through the public," Mr Barry said. "The leaflet was not much different to one I had been using for the past four or five years.

"The questions I was asked by the police seemed really rather innocuous."

Mr Barry, of Windsor Gardens, Castlecroft, Wolverhampton, distributed the leaflet around Tettenhall in the city, near his ex-wife Liz's home. The 58-year-old claimed not to have seen two of his three children for eight years and had only fortnightly access to the other.

He said he planned to stand in this year's Wolverhampton City Council elections for the Equal Parenting Alliance, which campaigns to reform family law.

Mr Barry now runs an insurance and personal injury consultancy is demanding greater openness in family court proceedings.

West Midlands Police said a 58-year-old man had been arrested and bailed on suspicion of harassment.