A group of street preachers are at the centre of what is believed to be an unprecedented legal battle with a local authority which has tried to impose an injunction, without proper consultation, that would criminalise Christian prayer, singing and evangelism.
29 March 2025 Press OfficeThe Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has dropped a case against two street preachers who faced being criminalised following arrests for refusing to stop preaching from the Bible on Glastonbury High Street.
6 March 2024 Press OfficeFour Christian preachers have won the right to appeal a judgment that ruled they had been lawfully arrested for preaching in Bristol City Centre.
19 October 2021 Press OfficeLondon magistrates have thrown out a case against a Christian preacher, who was fined and prosecuted by the Metropolitan police for evangelising on Good Friday, 2020.
23 July 2021 Press OfficeTwo street preachers have been convicted of public order offences, after a public prosecutor claimed that quoting parts of the King James Bible in the context of modern British society "must be considered to be abusive and is a criminal matter".
28 February 2017 Press OfficeTwo Christian street preachers have today been acquitted of public order offences, after being convicted in February in what was described as a "modern day heresy trial".
29 June 2017 Press OfficeA Reading street preacher of 30 years (Dave Barker) and co-preacher (Stephen Wan) have had all charges dropped against them.
16 January 2018 Press OfficeChristian street preacher Shaun O’Sullivan has been cleared by a jury at Swindon Crown Court after a trial that raised serious questions about freedom of speech and the policing of so-called “hate claims.”
23 November 2025 Press OfficeA Labour council has been forced into a dramatic U-turn after it sought a court injunction to criminalise Christian prayer, singing and evangelism in public.
10 May 2025 Press OfficeIn a concerning setback to the right of free speech, today (28 Jan 2025), the High Court has rejected the appeal of a Christian preacher arrested outside Southwark Cathedral for displaying placards which protested Islam in the wake of the London Bridge, Westminster and Manchester Arena terrorist attacks.
28 January 2025 Press OfficeA Christian teaching assistant has won an £7,000 legal settlement from a school in Leeds after he was sacked for street preaching in his spare time.
11 January 2024 Press OfficeToday a Judge has overturned the conviction of a Christian street preacher who was arrested and reported to Prevent for 'misgendering' a member of the public.
9 March 2023 Press OfficeA Christian lettings agent who became the first street preacher to be prosecuted and reported to counter-terrorism for alleged ‘misgendering’, is set to appeal his conviction this week at Leeds Crown Court.
7 March 2023 Press OfficeA Christian preacher who was arrested for criticising Muhammad and Buddha has been found not guilty following a court hearing.
2 November 2022 Press OfficeToday, after a two-year legal battle, a Crown Court Judge has vindicated a Christian volunteer worker who was arrested, detained in a police cell and issued with a Covid fine for preaching and supporting the homeless during lockdown.
30 May 2022 Press OfficeTomorrow, a Christian volunteer will appeal a covid fine he received after being arrested for preaching and supporting the homeless on Easter Sunday 2020.
23 May 2022 Press OfficeThe first Christian woman to face trial for street preaching since a landmark free speech case in 1997 has been told there was ‘no case to answer’ by a district judge.
9 August 2021 Press OfficeThis Monday, four Christian preachers, known as ‘the Bristol Four’, will challenge Avon and Somerset Police over their brutal arrests following a dramatic incident in July 2016.
4 December 2020 Press OfficeA Christian charity leader has been given the first lockdown related compensation award from police after being manhandled and unlawfully prevented from preaching on the back of his truck.
26 October 2020 Press OfficeA Christian street preacher has been offered £2,500 in exemplary damages from the Metropolitan Police in relation to his false arrest, imprisonment and unlawful detention. In February, a video showing the aggressive arrest of Pastor Oluwole Ilesanmi (64) was watched by millions around the world, prompting outrage. Officers were shown forcibly handcuffing the preacher, claiming ...
28 July 2019 Press OfficeAnother street preacher who was charged under the Public Order Act 1986, after allegedly entering a discussion with two passers-by about homosexuality, has been acquitted.
12 July 2017 Press OfficeA Christian street preacher who was arrested on 23 June and held for 13 hours in a police cell, after displaying placards depicting love for Muslims and criticising the ideology of Islam, has this week been informed by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that no charges will be brought against him.
16 August 2017 Press OfficeA Christian street preacher has had his conviction for using ‘threatening and discriminatory language’ whilst preaching in Lincoln overturned yesterday (7 December) by the Crown Court. Daniel Courney, aged 33, had appealed against a decision by Lincoln Magistrates on 14 September after the CPS pressed charges over complaints by Muslims in the area.
8 December 2017 Press OfficeThe story of a Christian street preacher, whose video of arrest went viral across the world, has caught out the Metropolitan Police, who have had to change their story about what happened.
13 March 2019 Press Office