Kidnap Plot on Tony Blair's Son Foiled

(London) Scotland Yard sources have confirmed that police have foiled a plot to kidnap Prime Minister Tony Blair's five-year-old son, Leo.

From the Guardian:

Detectives have investigated a plot to kidnap Tony Blair's son, Leo, after it emerged that extremists linked to the fathers' rights group Fathers4Justice were allegedly intending to snatch the Blairs' youngest child as a form of direct action.

Downing Street last night refused to comment on a report in the Sun newspaper that the police had foiled the attempt in which Leo would have been held hostage to highlight the plight of fathers denied access to their children.

Authorities believe the plot was to hold the boy only for a short period of time and then let him go unharmed. Anti-terrorist police took immediate action to investigate rumors of the plot, visiting members of Fathers4Justice and warning them that someone would likely be shot on sight if the plan was acted on.

Matt O'Conner, founder of Fathers4Justice, condemned the plot unreservedly, stating, "We're in the business of uniting dads with their kids not separating them." Even so, some extreme members or former members have been implicated in the kidnap plot prompting O'Conner to shut down Fathers4Jusctice.

From Fathers4Justice Official Website:

F4J leader Matt O'Connor announced last night that he was suspending the operations of the group pending enquiries into allegations contained on the cover of this mornings Sun Newspaper that 'extremist sympathisers' associated with the group had planned to kidnap the Prime Minister's Son, Leo Blair.

F4J say they condemn any such action unreservedly and that the group is increasingly having it's name 'hijacked' by a growing number of militant extremists and that it would seriously consider the long term viability of the campaign.

O'Conner also called for the police to immediately release the names of the likely suspects and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. I give O'Conner credit for taking immediate action to condemn the plot and to distance himself from the perpetrators. However, criminal plots don't materialize from thin air in activist organizations without word getting around, so one has to wonder just how extreme the Fathers4Justice membership is at its core.