Long Sutton man’s campaign to highlight suicides in parents who cannot see their children goes to court - literally

A campaigner is taking his quest to raise awareness about the untimely deaths caused by parental alienation to court - literally.

Simon Cobb has launched the Death Penalty Campaign, which invites people to remember those who tragically took their own lives after being denied access to their own children.

As the founder of PAPA (People Against Parental Alienation) - which fights for equal parenting time and support for all parents following the end of a relationship - Simon is currently visiting courts across the country, laying wreaths outside and inviting others to add their own tributes in a show of remembrance.

“I’ve had a lot of members who have sadly taken their own lives,” explained the Long Sutton resident.

“It’s mostly about suicide but I’ve also had members who have sadly been murdered over custody issues, both in the UK as well.”

Simon says he wants to highlight how the current system is failing some parents, and driving them to the brink.

“I’ve got thousands of members who have court orders in place to see their children and the other parent is ignoring the orders and it keeps going back to court, back to court. and there’s no repercussions,” he added.

“It’s all at the cost of the person who’s being kept from seeing their child.

“They’re spending thousands and thousands of pounds in some cases going round in circles, the courts are not enforcing the orders and you get people who are falling into ridiculous amounts of debt trying to go the right route.”

These protests began on January 27 at Peterborough Crown Court, and have also been staged at courts in Leicester, Boston, Nottingham, King’s Lynn, Cambridge, Bury St Edmund’s and Ipswich.

The displays are planned to remain in place at all court houses for 14 days, with the exception of King’s Lynn, which lasts for three days.

The Boston display has was taken away after suggestions it would be removed.

PAPA currently has around 35,000 members and has recently started up in Canada.

The groups website states that it is estimated ‘over 200 children lose contact with a parent per week through family court in the UK alone’, adding research from Australia indicates that ‘over 21 parents per week take their own lives because of the emotional pain linked to contact denial’.

“This statistic starkly illustrates the heavy emotional toll faced by separated parents, particularly fathers who often experience a higher rate of alienation than mothers and as men are are over three times more likely to take their own life,” the website’s campaign page adds.

“The Death Penalty Campaign is a global campaign designed to raise awareness of the untimely deaths linked to contact denial and parental alienation.

​”To do this we are putting on demonstrations outside courthouses in the UK and across the globe, including our PAPA Canada chapter, to illustrate the severe consequences of parental alienation and contact denial.

​”Loving parents are sadly sentencing themselves to the ‘death penalty’ by taking their own lives, as a result of being alienated and denied access to their children. Their only ‘crime’ being that they loved their children, fought for their children and sadly could not endure any more.​

​”We at PAPA say no to the ‘death penalty’ because loving your child is not a crime.”

PAPA is asking its supporters to downloading a campaign poster available from https://www.papaorg.co.uk/death-penalty-campaign and displaying or distributing them.

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