Infamous fathers' rights campaigner is jailed for dressing as Spiderman and scaling crane in Milton Keynes

A man who has spent 20 years dressing as Spider-Man and scaling public buildings has been sent to jail following a stunt in Milton Keynes.

David Chick, 57, climbed to the top of a crane in the city centre, carrying a fake firearm, on September 9 last year as part of his campaign for fathers rights.

He had a stand-off with emergency services, who were called to try to persuade him down, and traffic chaos was caused on nearby roads.

Last week David appeared before a jury at Aylesbury Crown Court and was found guilty of intentionally or recklessly causing a public nuisance and carrying an imitation firearm.

He was jailed for one year.

David first hit the headlines as a fathers’ right campaigner in 2003 when he spent six days in his Spider-Man costume perched on a 150ft crane at London’s Tower Bridge.

He said he was protesting at not being allowed to see his daughter, who was then four years old.

But it was feared the crane could become unstable in high winds and surrounding roads were closed in case David fell. This resulted in 15 kilometre-long traffic jams around the bridge, causing gridlock across Central London.

As soon as he came down, he was arrested for causing a public nuisance. But he was later cleared of the charge at the Old Bailey and promptly announced that the public should “watch this space" for further stunts.

In 2004, David appeared again as Spider-Man – this time on top of the London Eye.

He remained there for 18 hours, one hour for each month he had not seen his daughter.

Again he was cleared by a court of causing a public nuisance and he went on to write a blog called Unbreakable Dad, detailing his battles as a father.

David is this week beginning his jail sentence. He says of his 20-year battle: “This is a story that is echoed through the experiences of many fathers and families and the pain caused by antiquated laws, bias and discrimination and the need for opinions and laws to change to better protect the rights of fathers and end the unnecessary grief felt by the victims of these injustices.”

.