Hunger
Strike Threat Dad Reunited with Boys
South Wales Evening Post
by Rachael Misstear
A Desperate father who threatened to
go on hunger strike as part of a campaign to see his children has been reunited
with them after nine months? Layton Bevan, aged 43, lost contact with his
two children after his wife walked out of their Neath home, taking his two sons
with her.
Having moved to an unknown address in Blackpool, she refused to let him have
contact with their sons, aged two and four. Mrs Bevan took out a six-month
injunction to stop her estranged husband seeing them. After desperate failed
attempts to gain access through the courts, he set up a special action group,
which eventually helped him to reunite with his children. Mr Bevan, of Rhodfa
Bevan, Cadoxton, set up the group Parents for Protest Wales Cymru this summer
and managed to raise the profile of his case both in Wales and in Blackpool.
Now, thanks to media pressure, his wife Nicola has agreed to let him see them on
an unlimited basis. This week will be the first time the children have seen
their father since January and have come to stay with him at his home in Neath.
He said: "This has been the longest nine
months of my life and I cannot tell of the relief I feel. I am delighted to be
able to see my children here at my home. It has been a heart-wrenching
experience and I am glad it is over. Nicola told me that she wished it had never
got to this stage and that she hadn't really wanted to stop me from seeing the
children.
She said that once
she had involved the lawyers they
took over and exaggerated claims made against me so that I couldn't have any
access to them. Now she has agreed to let me see the children at Christmas,
during school holidays and on each of their birthdays.
His sons Harry, aged four, and
two-year-old Jake will spend the week with their dad at his home.
The Parents for Protest group is growing
in strength and I am trying to help others who have lost access to their
children. The legal system offers
no justice to fathers and it is a disgrace that there are thousands of people
all over the country suffering as a result of family courts. My case should be an inspiration to others
and I would tell other people never to give up hope, It is thanks to all the
publicity I got, that I am now allowed to spend time with my two wonderful
children."
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