Christian preacher to pursue Judicial Review over Bible ban and criminal conviction for holding sign in ‘censorship zone’
12 February 2026 Issued by: Christian ConcernChristian preacher, Stephen Green, is returning to the High Court today at 12pm to seek permission for a full judicial review of the Crown Court’s refusal to state a case following his conviction for breaching the Mattock Lane Safe Zone Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) in Ealing, West London.
The legislation prohibits any ‘act of disapproval’ of abortion within the ‘buffer zone’, which includes praying and reading from the Bible.
Michael Phillips, who will represent Mr Green in court today, will say that ‘buffer zone’ legislation has created censorship zones on the streets of England where speech, praying and the Bible is banned and criminalised.
The sign Mr Green held said: ‘Psalm 139:13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.’
Psalm 139 is arguably one of the most famous and well-known pieces of scripture in the Bible.
His earlier application for Judicial Review was refused on the papers in January, and this hearing marks the renewal of that request.
Mr Green, who is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre, was convicted after holding the placard a few metres from the entrance of the Ealing abortion clinic in February 2023.
The Crown Court ruled that the message amounted to an expression of disapproval related to abortion services and therefore fell within the PSPO’s prohibitions. It also concluded that his stated aim of protesting “buffer zones” was a “camouflage” for opposition to abortion provision.
In challenging the refusal to state a case, Mr Green argues that the Crown Court made fundamental legal errors. His principal contention is that the court wrongly concluded it did not need to conduct an individual proportionality assessment of his particular conduct and its impact on the rights at stake.
The Crown Court held that proportionality had already been determined when the PSPO was upheld in the earlier Dulgheriu case, despite the fact that the activities described in that litigation involved persistent, targeted, and sometimes confrontational behaviour towards clinic users, which Mr Green says bears no resemblance to his own quiet, solitary, and non‑interactive actions.
Mr Green maintains that where a criminal conviction is involved, one of the most serious interferences with freedom of expression, courts must assess whether applying the PSPO to the specific facts is necessary and proportionate. He argues that his peaceful conduct did not engage or disturb any clinic users and therefore could not justify criminal sanction without a fresh, fact‑sensitive balancing exercise.
He will further challenges the Crown Court’s approach to the “reasonable excuse” defence, which treated inadvertence or mistake as the only possible justifications and excluded the possibility that exercising Convention rights might ever amount to a reasonable excuse within the zone. Mr Green argues that this effectively removes human‑rights protections altogether from PSPO enforcement, an outcome he says is legally unsustainable.
He also disputes the Crown Court’s view that any error on proportionality would be “academic”, insisting that a fresh, properly‑directed bench could reach a different conclusion.
Mr Green is therefore asking the High Court to grant permission for judicial review so that these issues of principle, affecting the limits of free expression, the operation of buffer zones, and the proper approach of criminal courts when Convention rights are engaged, can be fully argued and determined.
Attack on the Bible and free speech
Ahead of the hearing, Mr Green, said: “As a Christian I should be able to preach freely all over the land. Psalm 139 is about how we all belong to God from conception.
“Buffer zones and this conviction is a direct attack on the Bible and free speech, which is being licenced by the state. I have no choice but to continue to defend myself and fight for justice.
“People are right to be concerned about the buffer zone legislation. To bar Christian witness and to control what people can say is deeply draconian and discriminatory against Christians.
“If it is now a criminal offence to hold a sign with a verse from Psalm 139 on it in a London street, then none of us is free.’
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “Psalm 139 is one of the most well known and beautiful passages in the Bible which points to the hope and comfort of each person being wonderfully made and looked after by God.
“The effect of the PSPO is to create an area where Bible verses and prayer are banned.
“Hearing a judge say that verses from Psalm 139 are an ‘act of protest’ and to be punished is devastating.
“We will stand with Mr Green as he seeks justice in this case.”
What happened
During the incident, Mr Green, who is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre, was alleged to have broken a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO), which, including prayer, criminalises “protesting, namely engaging in an act of approval/disapproval, with respect to issues related to abortion services”.
The PSPO, put in place by Ealing Council in April 2018, was the first ‘buffer zone’ surrounding an abortion clinic to be introduced in the UK.
PSPO legislation is usually reserved for anti-social behaviour such as dog fouling, littering and alcohol and drug misuse.
In evidence provided to the police, the clinic staff member who reported Mr Green said, ‘the incident lasted an hour’ and that one of the ‘suspects’ was ‘holding a bible in his hand which he appeared to be reading aloud from.’
The staff member added: ‘I received a text message from the police saying they were treating it as an emergency.’
Mr Green, who is director of campaign group Christian Voice, left the area before the police arrived.
Nonetheless, staff at the clinic relayed to the police what had happened and seven months after the event, Mr Green received a prosecution notice from Ealing Council.
The charge sheet provided to Mr Green, says:
‘On 6th February 2023, you did something you were prohibited from doing in an area which is within the Mattock Lane Safe Zone Public Spaces Protection Order outside the MSI Reproductive Choices Clinic in that you:
‘a) Protested by engaging in an act of disapproval or attempted act of act of disapproval with respect to issues related to abortion services, by written means in that you were holding a large sign displaying the text ‘Psalm 139:13 For thou hast possessed me (sic) reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.’
‘b) Had text displayed on a large sign namely ‘‘Psalm 139:13 For thou hast possessed me (sic) reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb’ relating directly or indirectly to the termination of pregnancy.
‘Contrary to Section 67 (1) (a) Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.’
Conviction
Convicted in February 2024 at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court in West London, District Judge Kathryn Verghis ruled: “The extract of the Psalm mentioning ‘my mother’s womb’…was an act of protest of abortion. There were less controversial verses you could have chosen to display. I can come to no other conclusion that [the verse] was an act of disapproval [of abortion services].. an act prohibited [by the PSPO].
Whilst admitting that the PSPO was “a significant interference” of Mr Green’s rights under articles 9 and 10 of the European Convention, she said those rights had to be weighed against individuals accessing abortion services.
She concluded that, Mr Green’s: “Protest was peaceful…but your actions were not proportionate….I find you guilty as summoned.”
Turning to sentencing, Mr Green’s lawyer said as a matter of principle that Mr Green would not pay any financial penalty, which could ultimately result in a prison sentence. The judge imposed a 1 year conditional discharge, the victim surcharge of £26 and a costs order of £2,400.
