Two Fathers 4 Justice campaigners scaled the roof of Harriet Harman's house today forcing the Leader of the House of Commons and her husband to abandon the property.

Dressed in red and blue Superman costumes, Jolly Stanesby, 39, and Mark Harris, 49, both from South Devon, unfurled a banner reading “A father is for life, not just conception” from the grey, slate tiles of the Deputy Labour Leader's semi-detached property in Dulwich, South London

The duo then relaxed on the gables in the sun, waving to neighbours and the gathering crowds in what is the latest of a series of high-profile fathers' rights protests by the group since it formed in 2002.

Ms Harman had remained oblivious to the "superheroes" on her roof until local children started waving up at them. However at 2.30pm Ms Harman emerged with her husband to declare they were leaving, to spare the public purse.

“We are going to move out and stay somewhere else. I don’t think it’s fair for police resources to be tied up outside my house by this demonstration and it’s not fair on the neighbours,” she said.

“We came in through the side gate at 8.15 this morning,” said Mr Harris, a driving instructor, speaking to The Times by mobile phone from the roof. “We just walked in.

“Then we climbed up the back extension onto the flat roof from where we could get to the very top. My own house is more secure than this.”

He said he had asked police acting as mediators to present Ms Harman with a copy of his book, Family Court Hell, which details his decade-long struggle to gain access to his three daughters, including a prison sentences for waving to them across a supermarket car park.

“We have asked her to read it and then we're going to ask her some questions on it,” he said. “If she can answer them all correctly, then we will come down."

Championing the reform of Britain's family law system and equal contact and parenting rights for separated parents, Fathers 4 Justice members have become infamous for breaching public buildings and scaling them dressed as larger-than-life comic book characters.

Ms Harman's suburban red-brick home is a far cry from the Royal Courts of Justice or Buckingham Palace, which Fathers 4 Justice members scaled in 2003 and 2004. But the group insisted Ms Harman was an obvious target.

“Harriet Harman is part of a Government that has presided over the chaos of family law for ten years,” said Darryl Westell, a 26-year-old member who arrived to cheer on his friends. “She and her party have advocated the total removal of fathers' rights.”

Mr Westell, who spent “£20,000 and a lot of heartache” fighting for the right to see his five-year-old son after he separated from the boy's mother, said he was supposed to be on Ms Harman's roof himself, but his alarm had failed to go off that morning.

“I'm probably lucky,” he admitted. “They will stay up there for as long as it takes. These guys are determined.”

In January 2004, Mr Stanesby, a registered child minder and father-of-one, sat on top of Tamar Bridge in Plymouth for seven days. Ms Harman's roof, in comparison, was quite luxurious, he said.

“It's beautiful up here. It's hot and sunny and we've got great views of London.”

“We've got plenty of food and water and a couple of books – I'm reading Martin Luther King's autobiography.

“And if we need the loo, we're hoping Harriet might let us use hers.”

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