The Crown Prosecution Service has dropped all charges against Michael Jones, a street preacher of Hornsea, who was arrested and charged for comments made about Islam and IS.
The accusations of shouting “All Muslims are terrorists, they should not be allowed in this country, Islam is not a religion, it’s terrorism” and “Islam does not preach the Bible” were proven to be fabricated by a passer-by and a woman on her lunch break. Fortunately, Mr Jones made a recording of all of his preaching, without which he would quite likely have been convicted and would now have a criminal record.
Andrea Williams from the Christian Legal Centre said: “Michael was just exposing the evil of ISIS, as many others have attempted to do. He was faulted merely for linking the actions of this group back to their ideological foundations.”
Mr Jones’s case follows those of Mike Overd, the Taunton street preacher, who was convicted for using the ‘wrong’ Bible verse about homosexuality and Andrew Geuter of Hereford, arrested for alleged homophobic remarks after a member of the public misquoted him. The Christian Legal Centre encourages street preachers to record themselves when ministering.