SIMON REED, of Consett, County Durham, has spent £15,000 in legal fees in an attempt to gain access to his two boys.

After a two-year court battle, he has received a consent order allowing him to see his sons, aged ten and six, once a month.

Simon (not his real name) initially enjoyed regular access to his boys when he first split from his wife.

"I was seeing them every single week and even going on holiday with them, but then I told my ex-wife about my new partner and it all changed," he said.

"She just kept coming up with excuses, like they were ill or they didn't want to go."

Simon, 41, and a member of Fathers 4 Justice, was forced to take his ex-wife to court and see his sons under supervised contact situations only. The ex-couple live 250 miles apart and at one stage he did not see his sons for 18 months.

But he has now gained a court order so he can see the children once a month. He is going to continue fighting through the courts to take them on holidays and have them stay at his home.

"It's been devastating," he said. "They've been forced to spend their most tender years without their dad.

"I've tried to negotiate dates for contact but she's not having any of it.

"I can't find anything out about their health or school, I never get any school photographs.

"The court system isn't geared up to cope with people who are not reasonable, and mediation is no good unless it's made compulsory.

"I think instead of curfews, the Government should threaten mothers with going to prison."