BRITAIN'S top family law judge criticised a fathers' rights group yesterday, saying that she would not listen to it because of its high-profile stunts.

Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, President of the High Court Family Division, condemned the protests of Fathers4 Justice as 'not sensible' and said that they could not lead to a constructive dialogue between aggrieved parents fighting for access to their children and the legal system.

She added: "I cannot meet Fathers4 Justice because they are not being sensible, and as long as they throw condoms with purple powder and send a double-decker bus with a loudspeaker outside my private house in the West Country there is no point."

She was giving evidence alongside Mr Justice Munby and Lord Justice Wall at the Commons Constitutional Affairs Committee in London, which is looking into reform of the family court system.

Dame Elizabeth denied that the system was biased against fathers and insisted that the welfare of the child was paramount.

Matt O'Connor, founder of Fathers4Justice, said that he was dismayed by yesterday's hearing, which he said showed that the judges did not understand the plight of parents. "These three judges should be pensioned off and much younger, more contemporary judges brought in," he said.

During the hearing, Keith Vaz, the Labour MP, asked if it was a failure of Government that the family court system was receiving such criticism and that judges were being blamed. Dame Elizabeth replied: "I do not think it is the fault of the politicians - politicians cannot make the parties be sensible."

All three giving evidence agreed that there were not enough judges to cope with the high demands of family custody cases. Judges preside over both criminal and family courts and are under huge pressure to deal with both, the committee was told. In an ideal situation, a judge would hear a case through to its conclusion to ensure continuity and avoid other judges having to read up on a new case.

Unusually, the public was barred from attending the hearing at Westminster yesterday on security grounds. The handful who did try to attend had to watch the proceedings via a closed-circuit television link in Portcullis House near by.

Dame Elizabeth and Mr Justice Munby said that they would like to see more family court hearings opened to journalists and the public. All family matters are heard behind closed doors, but opening up the courts would mean that the press could report on proceedings rather than leaving an aggrieved party to give their side to the media, the MPs were told.

KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY, NOT IN COURT

• Fathers' groups protest about lack of contact with their children and say the courts are failing them
  
  
• Bob Geldof and Fathers 4 Justice want a presumption that contact should be on a 50/50 basis
  
  
• Proposed reforms include directing parents who seek court orders on contact to in-court conciliation schemes
  
  
• Cafcass, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, would shift from writing reports for 30,000 contact disputes a year to helping parents to reach agreement out of court
  
  
• A pilot project in three courts is testing a conciliation scheme in which parents are directed to work out parenting plans

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