A bronze sculpture by Turner Prize-winning artist Gillian Wearing unveiled outside the Library of Birmingham on Thursday was 'hijacked' by a furious New Fathers For Justice campaigner over the weekend.

'A Real Birmingham Family' depicts a heavily pregnant Emma Jones, 27, and her sister Roma, 29, hand-in-hand with their children Kyan, four, and Shaye, five - but has drawn criticism because of the lack of any adult male or father figure.

But Bobby Smith, 32, stuck photos of himself and his two young daughters Ellie, seven, and Mollie, 10, onto the artwork and threw a sheet over the other mother.

Scroll down for video

New Fathers for Justice campaigner Bobby Smith, 21, says the 'A Real Birmingham Family' statue outside the Library of Birmingham suggests fathers are not an important part of family life

'A Real Birmingham Family' depicts a heavily pregnant Emma Jones, 27, and her sister Roma, 29, hand-in-hand with their children Kyan, four, and Shaye, five

The father-of-two spent all of Saturday and today at the statue and said the £100,000 sculpture suggests fathers are not an important part of family life.

Mr Smith, who travelled from his home in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, for the protest, is a member of New Fathers For Justice, which campaigns for greater rights for fathers when parents split. It is not associated with Fathers4Justice or its founder Matt O'Connor.

He said: 'They've depicted the normal family with no fathers.

'There's nothing wrong with single mothers but this statue is saying one person can do both jobs, and I believe kids are always better off with both parents in their lives.

Anger: Mr Smith, who travelled from his home in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, for the protest, said: 'They've depicted the normal family with no fathers

'This is a statue that is potentially going to be around for hundreds of years and it's not a great thing to show young people.

'I thought I was going to get a lot of verbal abuse but people have been so supportive - especially women.

'We engaged with hundreds of people, there were crowds of people listening to my speeches during the day.

'It has sparked a lot of debate and a lot of women came up to me to say they were against it.

'The people of Birmingham told me they felt they had been cheated.

'Birmingham is such a brilliant mixed-ethnicity area and I met so many couples with children who should have been on that statue instead.'

Mr Smith, who is carrying out his two-day protest with fellow campaigner, Carole Wheeler, 43, said their actions even gained support from the statue's commissioner.

The HGV driver added: 'The police arrived and I thought they weren't going to let me put the pictures on but they said it was fine.

'I told them it was just tape and I had done research about the statue material and made sure it isn't going to do any damage.

'We only had to call the police back once when a woman tried to trip the pictures off but other than that there was no trouble.

'A bloke came out of the library and said he was the one who commissioned it and said he was glad I had come to show my interpretation of the statue.'

Birmingham Yardley MP John Hemming has slammed the statue, saying: 'There's absolutely nothing wrong with single parent families but I always find it sad when fathers are not involved in the lives of their children.'

Craig Pickering, from the charity Families Need Fathers, added: 'Everybody knows that families can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes but this interpretation of a family seems most bizarre.

'It is factually inaccurate and totally out of step.'

Sisters Emma and Roma Jones and their three children were chosen from nearly 400 'real' families as the models for the statue.

The campaigner said there were crowds of people listening to his speeches during the day

The HGV driver said: 'The police arrived and I thought they weren't going to let me put the pictures on but they said it was fine'

He added: 'There's nothing wrong with single mothers but this statue is saying one person can do both jobs, and I believe kids are always better off with both parents in their lives'

But at the unveiling on Thursday, the pair refused to reveal details of their unique family set-up which made a panel of judges pick them as representing the city in the 21st Century.

Charity outreach worker Roma, mother to four-year-old Kyan, said: 'We were interested in representing women, representing single parents and also mixed race people, which are such a part of Birmingham.

'Because there isn't an adult male, we thought that would be an issue and that's why possibly we wouldn't be chosen.'

Roma and Emma, mother to Shaye, five, and eight-month-old Isaac, were raised by their single mother Karen Jones in a council house in Birmingham.

The sculpture was unveiled in Birmingham's Centenary Square. (Left to right) sculptor Gillian Wearing, Roma Jones (29) and Emma Jones (27) and baby Issac (eight months)

The sisters, who have two brothers Robin, 25, and Jay, 23, were described as 'polite and well-brought up' by neighbours.

Birmingham-born artist Gillian Wearing's previous statue of a family stands in Trento, Italy, and shows a mother, father and their two children.

Her new sculpture, which was commissioned by Birmingham's Ikon gallery, was made in China and financed by a mixture of public money and private donations.