THE founder of the protest group Fathers4Justice has said extremists wanted to “take out” their opponents by running them over with cars, while others wanted to kidnap a dog belonging to a top judge.

Matt O’Connor, who disbanded the group last week, also claimed one father had threatened to commit suicide in front of Tony Blair during last year’s election campaign.

O’Connor’s allegations of the lengths to which some militants were prepared to go come after a group of four were linked to a plot to kidnap Leo Blair, the five-year-old son of the prime minister.

In an interview at his home in Suffolk, O’Connor, 38, said he had been forced to intervene on numerous occasions to prevent the movement self-destructing.

“A guy sent us an e-mail threatening to commit suicide in front of Tony Blair during the general election . . . and about three months ago there was a serious threat to firebomb a Cafcass (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) office.”

O’Connor said he had informed police of both incidents, but added that he felt “as much at risk as anyone” from some of the “underbelly” attracted to his movement. He said: “Some people have talked about firing ball bearing guns through judges’ windows . . . The odd person has talked about taking people out . . . trying to run them over.

Among extremists, he said, “one idea had been to kidnap the dog of the head of the family division” — Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, whom they blamed for a system that gives less access to fathers than to mothers in custody battles.

O’Connor claimed the story about Leo Blair was leaked to destroy the group. “The government or someone at Scotland Yard or Special Branch are getting their own back for us making them look like idiots (with stunts involving activists dressed as superheroes breaching security at Buckingham Palace and parliament).”

O’Connor said there might have been wild talk of kidnapping Leo, but he had no direct knowledge of it. No arrests have been made.

His protest group turned fathers’ rights into a mainstream issue. However, he said it was already imploding by the end of 2004, as campaigners became embroiled in allegations of racism and sexism, and funds went missing.

Last summer several dozen activists left the group, with many joining the breakaway Real Fathers for Justice. O’Connor said it lacked leadership and any strategy. “My gut feeling is that there will be some godawful disaster,” he said, “with someone getting shot — or they will disintegrate.”

O’Connor, who has a girlfriend and a four-week-old son, as well as two children by a previous relationship, said he now plans to launch a political party dedicated to defending civil liberties.

Jeff Skinner, a founding director of the splinter group, said it would continue to target Cafcass, the Child Support Agency and family law solicitors.

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