Preacher Who Held up Bible Verse First to Be Convicted of Breaching Buffer Zone Order

Stephen Green, holding a Bible, stands outside Uxbridge Magistrates Court in Uxbridge, England on Oct. 17, 2023. The Epoch Times

A Christian preacher who held up a sign with a verse from the Bible has become the first person to be convicted of breaching a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) near an abortion clinic in west London.

Stephen Green, 73, from Carmarthen in Wales, told his trial at Uxbridge Magistrates Court last month his actions had been a protest against the “buffer zone” itself and not abortion.

Green told the hearing, “I considered it appropriate to challenge the idea that there are areas of the United Kingdom where one may not use certain words found in the Bible.”

The sign he held up outside a Maries Stopes International Reproductive Choices clinic in Mattock Lane, Ealing on Feb. 6, 2023, said, “Psalm 139:13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.”

Given Conditional Discharge

But on Thursday, district Judge Kathryn Verghis ruled he had breached the PSPO and, imposed a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered him to pay toward the council’s costs.

Green, a farmer and director of the campaign group Christian Voice, was prosecuted by Ealing Council under section 67 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

He could have faced a sentence of six months in prison or a £1,000 fine, but his lawyer told the court he would not pay a fine on principle.

PSPOs are usually reserved for anti-social behaviour such as littering, alcohol misuse and prostitution, but Ealing Council became the first council to pass one in an attempt to stop what they said was the harassment of women who were already in a very distressed state.

Since then, similar PSPOs have been introduced in Birmingham, Manchester, Bournemouth and Twickenham in southwest London.

In Oct. 2023, Green told The Epoch Times he had carried out the same protest he did in Ealing in the other towns and in Bournemouth, police had been in attendance and had taken no action.

Preacher Felt It Was ‘State Over-Reach’

Giving evidence last month, Green said he felt the PSPOs amounted to “state over-reach,” and he said he was acting as a “prophetic voice” to lay out to the authorities why what they were doing was wrong.

The preacher said the verse was about “human development” and not abortion and he was then asked by his barrister, Michael Phillips, if he had been fearful that he would be prosecuted for his protest.

Green said: “I had to do what I had to do. If the machinery of the state is trying to say that there are places where the word of God cannot be expressed, I have to challenge that.”

He left the area before police arrived, but a member of staff at the clinic then made a formal complaint.

Ellis Sareen, a barrister representing the council, said Green could have used a verse which emphasised the importance of preaching the gospel or freedom of speech, but he deliberately chose one which contained the word “womb” and was therefore clearly an act of “disapproval” of abortion, making it a breach of the PSPO.

People attend an anti-abortion pro-life vigil on the street outside the Marie Stopes clinic, which offers contraception and abortion services, in Ealing, west London, on April 21, 2018. Alice Ritchie/AFP via Getty Images

The council passed a PSPO in April 2018, which forbids “protesting, namely engaging in an act of approval/disapproval, with respect to issues related to abortion services.”

The court heard the order listed a number of words, including “abortion,“ “foetus,” “baby,“ “mum,” “Hell,” “soul” and “murder” which were banned.

Green’s barrister cited the European Human Rights Convention and the right of freedom of religion and free speech.

Mr. Sareen made a point of saying the council’s acceptance of the PSPO was an interference with Article 9, which enshrines the “freedom of thought, belief and religion,” and Article 10, which protects “freedom of expression.”

But he told the court the order was “proportionate” because it only covered a small geographical area and had a specific purpose in protecting vulnerable women from “intimidation.”

The High Court and the Court of Appeal have already upheld the legality of Ealing Council’s PSPO.

In 2019, Alina Dulgheriu, a woman who changed her mind about an abortion and later gave birth to a daughter after being given a leaflet by protesters, challenged the legality of the buffer zones but lost her case.

Home Secretary Challenged on Silent Prayers

Earlier this week, the home secretary, James Cleverly, was challenged by Diana Johnson, the chair of the Home Affairs select committee, about the Public Order Act, which would create so-called safe access zones which would “prohibit certain activities within 150 metres of an abortion clinic or a hospital that provides abortion services.”

Ms. Johnson said: “Last year we specifically voted against proposals to allow silent prayer and consensual communication in safe access zones, and I noticed that the Home Office have produced guidance which includes those measures being allowed, and I just wondered why you would do that when Parliament had been very clear that that wasn’t the will of Parliament?”

Mr. Cleverly pointed out it was only “draft guidance”, and he said the Home Office was listening carefully to all those who responded to the public consultation as well as to Parliament.

The Public Order Act and the safe access zones are due to come into force this spring.