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Revealed: 'Plot to kidnap Blair son'
by Anne Alexander Political Editor Militant former members of a father's rights group plotted to kidnap Tony Blair's five-year-old son Leo, the head of the organisation said today.
Matt O'Connor, founder of Fathers 4 Justice, said that he had been told by anti-terrorism officers at the Metropolitan Police that they had questioned former members about the plan.
The plotters, who were expelled last year from the organisation for their militant views and behaviour, were warned after officers from the Metropolitan Police found out about the plot.
They came across the plan to target the Blairs just before Christmas while investigating individuals activities.
Plan
The plotters are not thought to have got beyond the stage of talking about the plan to take Leo for a short time, which Mr O'Connor, a father of two, described as "horrific".
Security around the Prime Minister's children – Euan 22, Nicholas 20, Kathryn, 17 and Leo, has been stepped up in response to the revelation.
Mr O'Connor, who said that the revelation could lead to him closing down Fathers 4 Justice, said: "We think it is possible that ex-members of the organisation who we expelled last year may well have been planning something like this subsequent to their departure."
He added: "We do know that over the last two weeks members of the anti-terrorist unit of Scotland Yard SO13 did interview and did give warnings to ex-members of the organisation and that we have had that confirmed by Scotland Yard."
He said that there is a "dark underbelly out there in the country that came up with this grotesque idea of actually separating a child from their father".
Downing Street and the Metropolitan Police have refused to comment.
Fathers 4 Justice has courted controversy since it hit the headlines with its stunts. One member dressed as Batman scaled the side of Buckingham Palace and another handcuffed himself to children's minister Margaret Hodge.
anne.alexander@ypn.co.uk
Opinion: Page 10
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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