UK court overturns conviction of two Christian preachers charged with public order offenses

An appeals court in the U.K. has overturned the conviction of two Christian preachers who were previously found guilty of religiously-aggravated public order offenses for preaching at a mall in Bristol.

Michael Overd, 53, and Michael Stockwell, 51, were fined £300 (US$395) each and ordered jointly to pay court costs of £3,372 (US$4,442) in February for violating the Crime and Disorder Act.

The two men were filmed in July 2016 preaching at Broadmead Shopping Centre in Bristol, telling the shoppers being gay was "immoral" and shouting "Mohammed is a liar."

The men had been preaching and answering questions from shoppers on a variety of topics such as Islam, Buddhism, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuality and other moral and religious issues, according to Christian News Network.

A crowd of up to 100 people has reportedly gathered around the men chanting "go home" before the police came to arrest them.

They insisted that they were simply reading from the King James Bible and denied that they directed hostility at other faiths or sexualities.

On Thursday, the judges at Bristol Crown Court overruled the conviction of the street preachers, saying it has not been proved that their offense was religiously-aggravated.

The judges noted that Stockwell, a former U.S. Marine from Selden, New York, "did no more than express his no doubt sincerely held religious beliefs." They also stated that Overd, who resides in Creech St. Michael, Somerset, seemed to take satisfaction in "working the crowd," but had not committed a public order offense.

Judge Martin Picton, along with two magistrates, found that the prosecution had failed to prove that the preachers showed hostility to members of another religious group.

"I feel elated that it is over," Stockwell told Bristol Post. "My heart is still for the Bristol people, and that they will be able to hear the gospel being preached on the streets unhindered," he added.

Overd said that he was "very sad" that "this is what this country has come to," but he vowed that he would continue preaching.

"This is not an isolated case. How many times must we go to court before there is respect for the law?" Overd stated. "My heart bleeds for this country, but I am a patriot and I will be back on the streets to preach," he went on to say.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which supported the preachers, celebrated the ruling as a "victory for freedom of speech."