An outspoken journalist has found himself on the receiving end of the wrath of Fathers 4 Justice after calling for the pressure group to end their “tedious publicity stunts”.

Sunday Sun assistant editor and columnist Ken Oxley included a light-hearted ‘memo’ to F4J in his weekly column after one of the group’s campaigners scaled the Tyne Bridge during Labour’s Spring Conference.

It ended with the punchline that next time one of its supporters climbs onto a bridge, they should jump – but some F4J members didn’t find it funny and bombarded him with thousands of e-mails to tell him so.

Ken said: “It didn’t go down well. When I got back to work they’d bombarded me with 14,954 emails.

“The vast majority were repeat mails designed to clog up my system – they warned: ‘Fathers 4 Justice are watching you!’

“Another asked, mockingly, if my inbox was full yet.

“There were also more than 100 others – from F4J members around the world (clearly my piece was posted on a website somewhere) most of which we very abusive.

“All of which, I’m sure, was intended to intimidate me… which hasn’t worked.”

Ken has now published his response in a follow-up column, and this week’s Sunday Sun also includes a selection of the letters he received.

He wrote: “I’m thinking of setting up a pressure group called Journalists 4 Justice. The purpose of J4J will be to protect news reporters from fathers who’ve been denied access to their sense of humour.

“Last week, while acknowledging Fathers 4 Justice have a point, I called for an end to their now tedious publicity stunts.

“And, by way of a punchline, suggested the next time one of their supporters climbs onto a bridge, they should go ahead and jump.

“For the record folks, I was joking. I’m not seriously advocating suicide as a way of grabbing the headlines – that would be much too effective. (Joking again.)”

Ken also received a call from the group’s North-East co-ordinator, Mike Kelly.

Ken said: “Mike was amiable and polite and had the good grace to apologise for the 14,954 duplicate e-mails which warned ‘Fathers 4 Justice are watching you,’ even though he had nothing to do with them.

“There was much we agreed on. As I said last week, the campaigners have a point.

“But I can’t agree with Mike when he says the publicity-grabbing stunts must continue until the law is changed.”