The husband of Deputy Labour Leader Harriet Harman has described his horror when he thought fathers’ rights protestors from south Devon were burglars trying to break into his house.

Labour Party Treasurer Jack Dromey told the City of Westminster magistrates’ court in London that he believed Fathers 4 Justice campaigners were burglars.

Jolly Stanesby and Mark Harris scaled Miss Harman’s semi-detached home in Herne Hill, south-east London, in June this year.

The two men, dressed in comic book hero outfits, mounted a protest on Miss Harman’s roof which eventually led to her and Mr Dromey temporarily leaving the premises.

The two men have pleaded not guilty to a charge of harassment.

Stanesby has also pleaded not guilty to a charge of failing to follow a police officer’s instructions.

Mr Dromey told the court that the protest had caused great distress to him and his wife.

Describing events on the morning of June 8 he said he had been woken by loud thumping which he thought was burglars.

He said: “This was a heavy thumping just above me which led me to conclude to my horror that somebody was trying to break into our house.”

He said: “Nothing can ever justify invading someone’s private home. You should never, ever violate their personal privacy, their personal homes.”