Preachers arrested in Bristol 'did nothing illegal'

Michael Overd (left) was arrested while preaching at the Broadmead Shopping Centre in July 2016

Street preachers who were arrested as they delivered sermons to shoppers did "nothing illegal", a court has heard.

Michael Overd, Mike Stockwell, Don Karns and AJ Clarke have brought claims against Avon and Somerset Police.

They had been preaching to a crowd outside Broadmead Shopping Centre in Bristol in July 2016.

Mr Overd and Mr Stockwell were fined for a religiously aggravated public order offence in February 2017 but were cleared on appeal.

In an hour-long video recorded on body-cam by Mr Overd before and during his arrest, he is shown calling members of the crowd "God haters" and "depraved".

Mr Overd criticised Islam and claimed that then prime minister David Cameron was "no more Christian than my dogs" because of his support for same-sex marriage.

But Ian Daniels, representing the men, said his clients should not have been arrested.

"If you say, 'I don't like Islam and I think all Muslims should be killed' then it's a very different thing," Mr Daniels told Bristol County Court.

'They come to close us down'

Mark Ley-Morgan, for Avon and Somerset Police, said some shoppers had called police during the men's addresses because they were "concerned that there might be violence".

Mr Ley-Morgan asked Mr Overd whether he agreed that police had left him to preach on "many, many occasions" without interference across Somerset.

But Mr Overd said: "When officers come, they come to close us down."

He said a "culture of all major institutions" had begun "criminalising the Bible" and that police support of gay pride events had "compromised" their neutrality.

The court heard Mr Overd has previously preached at an FA Cup final and a gay pride event.

The case, which is expected to last for 10 days, continues.