{"id":10776,"date":"2017-06-30T17:05:44","date_gmt":"2017-06-30T16:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?p=10776"},"modified":"2017-06-30T17:48:27","modified_gmt":"2017-06-30T16:48:27","slug":"bristol-preachers-acquitted-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/bristol-preachers-acquitted-appeal\/","title":{"rendered":"Bristol preachers acquitted on appeal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Preachers<\/a>
Preachers Michael Overd (l) and Michael Stockwell were acquitted at Bristol Crown Court<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two street preachers convicted by lay magistrates won their appeal\u00a0in Bristol Crown Court yesterday.<\/p>\n

Michael Overd and Michael Stockwell had fines and costs totalling over \u00a32,000 each set aside.<\/p>\n

Judge Martin Picton watched a\u00a0video which Mr Overd took to safeguard himself from malicious prosecution.<\/p>\n

Moreover, His Honour took that as the prosecution case and heard only one witness.<\/p>\n

After the evidence of Mr Overd and Mr Stockwell, the trial concluded with brief legal arguments. \u00a0Barristers Paul Diamond and Michael Phillips set out the case law on behalf of the preachers.<\/p>\n

Preachers convicted by Freemason magistrate<\/h2>\n
\"Magistrate<\/a>
Magistrate Robert Stacey, a leading Freemason, convicted the preachers in February 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite the video, the Crown Prosecution Service brought charges last year against the two evangelists and two other preachers. \u00a0In\u00a0February of this year, the CPS dropped all charges against Don Kahns, an American missionary. \u00a0The magistrates court decided the prosecution had made no case against another man, Adrian Clark.<\/p>\n

But, as Christian Voice reported at the time<\/a><\/strong>, the bench found Messrs Overd and Stockwell guilty of disorderly conduct,\u00a0religiously aggravated. \u00a0Afterwards, we discovered the chairman of the magistrates was a high-ranking Freemason. \u00a0We posted a further report into Freemasonry and its ‘secrets’<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0In that report we named\u00a0magistrate\u00a0Robert Stacey as ‘Provincial Grand Scribe Ezra’ in the Royal Arch Provincial Grand Chapter of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire.<\/p>\n

Christianity and the claims of Jesus Christ stand against all the occultism and secrecy of Freemasonry.<\/p>\n

The retired laboratory manager and his colleagues,\u00a0Mr Gerry McDermot and Mrs Josephine Ramsden, thought an offence was ‘religiously aggravated’ if defendants\u00a0took exception to a religion, Islam in this case. \u00a0The law says the defendant must display\u00a0hatred towards its adherents or suspected adherents.<\/p>\n

Appeal allowed<\/h2>\n
\"Michael<\/a>
Michael Phillips represented Michael Overd<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Accordingly, Judge Picton dismissed the aggravated nature of the\u00a0convictions early in the hearing. \u00a0Nor did His Honour\u00a0have any problem with the preachers using the language of the King James Bible.<\/p>\n

The court heard from barrister Paul Diamond, representing Michael Stockwell. \u00a0Mr Diamond said religions are competitive and the truth each claims to hold is incompatible to another. \u00a0Referring to a restless element in the crowd, he told the judge, ‘A lawful act cannot be made unlawful by the acts of third parties.’<\/p>\n

Michael Phillips, representing Michael Overd, told the court the case was almost exactly the same as that of Alison Redmond-Bate. \u00a0She was convicted of obstructing a police officer when she refused to stop preaching in the face of a hostile crowd on the steps of Wakefield Cathedral in 1998. \u00a0In a famous judgment, Sir Stephen Sedley quashed her conviction<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Free speech includes the unwelcome<\/h2>\n
\"Paul<\/a>
Paul Diamond (l) chats to this journalist after the case<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Freedom to speak the inoffensive, said Lord Justice Sedley, was not worth having. \u00a0Free speech encompassed ‘the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome and provocative,’ he said. \u00a0The only proviso on ‘provocative’ was: ‘provided it did not tend to provoke violence’.<\/p>\n

is clear His Lordship meant the person speaking must not whip up\u00a0his hearers to violence against third parties. Prosecutors will try to argue a preacher would be outside the law if a listener was moved to violence against him himself. \u00a0But as Mr Diamond said, hecklers cannot have a veto which is expressed through the threat of violence. \u00a0And Sir Stephen said: ‘A police officer has no right to call upon a citizen to desist from lawful conduct.’<\/p>\n

Indeed, Judge Picton said the court, ‘Should not focus on reactions. \u00a0Some became aggravated, but we ask ourselves if the behaviour itself was disorderly.’<\/p>\n

In the event, the court held it was not. \u00a0His Honour found for the preachers. \u00a0He allowed the appeal to the delight of around twenty supporters gathered in the public gallery.<\/p>\n

Here is the report from the Bristol Post local newspaper<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Preach the Gospel to every creature<\/h2>\n
\"John<\/a>
John Wesley’s chapel in Bristol’s Broadmead – that’s the man of God on his horse.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Earlier, in his evidence, Michael Stockwell said, ‘Jesus commands me in Mark and Matthew to go out and preach the Gospel to every creature’. \u00a0He told the court there would often be people on the fringes listening, even if a trouble-maker had come to the front. \u00a0‘Most of these people never go to church,’ he said, ‘They will hear the word but maybe later at home they will think and cry to God for mercy.’<\/p>\n

After the verdict, a small group of us went back to the place in Broadmead where the alleged offences had occurred. \u00a0The site is right outside John Wesley’s chapel in Bristol. \u00a0An evangelist called Daniel climbed on a stump to preach while we stood and helped to gather a crowd. \u00a0Around\u00a0fifty people were listening by the time Daniel came down and we all started to engage the crowd in twos and threes.<\/p>\n

It was shocking how many younger people have bought into the homosexual narrative and are even supporting transsexualism. \u00a0Truth has fallen in the street. \u00a0But preachers do\u00a0what they can. \u00a0Above all we had good conversations. \u00a0Who knows if he is planting a seed or merely turning over the ground for another to plant.<\/p>\n

Scriptures:<\/h2>\n

Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!<\/p>\n

Matthew 13:3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;<\/p>\n

Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.<\/p>\n

Romans 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!<\/p>\n

2Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.<\/p>\n

Click on the links below to share this story:<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two street preachers convicted by lay magistrates won their appeal\u00a0in Bristol Crown Court yesterday. Michael Overd and Michael Stockwell had fines and costs totalling over \u00a32,000 each set aside. Judge Martin Picton watched a\u00a0video which Mr Overd took to safeguard himself from malicious prosecution. Moreover, His Honour took that as the prosecution case and heard 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to Preach<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Two street preachers convicted by lay magistrates won their appeal\u00a0in Bristol Crown Court yesterday. Michael Overd and Michael Stockwell had fines and costs totalling over \u00a32,000 each set aside. Judge Martin Picton watched a\u00a0video which Mr Overd took to safeguard himself from malicious prosecution. Moreover, His Honour took that as the prosecution case and heard…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}