Property mogul Samuel Leeds has said that he will personally pay for the legal representation of Christian street preachers who find themselves in trouble with the law.
Speaking to Truth Times, Leeds said that Christians in Britain were subject to a “double standard” and that he was “shocked and outraged” at the arrest of street preachers.
In recent years a number of street preachers have hit the headlines after being subject to arrest.
In April, Pastor Steve Maile of Oasis City Church in Watford was arrested for alleged assault and “alleged hate-related public order offences connected to comments critical of Islam and LGBT lifestyles”. The assault claims were later dropped.
In a separate case, Clive Johnston, a pastor in Northern Ireland was found guilty of breaching an abortion clinic buffer zone. Johnston delivered an open-air sermon within the zone on the Bible verse John 3:16 but made no mention of abortion.
Angus Cameron, a Christian street preacher who was arrested in Scotland in 2022 for allegedly homophobic statements.
Before being arrested, Cameron interacted with a police officer who had no issue with his preaching, saying he understood that "all you’re wanting to do is put your point across and you’re taking quotes out of the Bible, and I’m not going to challenge you on that”.
Cameron was subsequently arrested by another officer who took a different view. While he was later released without charge, Cameron initiated legal action against the police and was successful in having the “Non-Crime Hate Incident” removed from his record. He was also awarded £5,500 in compensation and £9,400 in legal costs.
Reacting to such cases, Leeds, said, “I am outraged and shocked to see Christians getting arrested on the streets and being told that they’re offensive for preaching about Jesus when we are living in a Christian country.
“We see Christians being persecuted all over the world, but seeing it happen in Great Britain - seeing the disdain, the hatred and now the oppression of Christian voices - really bothers me.”
Leeds said that Britain had “developed a double standard” against Christianity and many controversial cases were triggered by police officers overstepping the mark because they do not understand the law.
“We’re a Christian country that’s tolerant of everybody and every religion - apart from, increasingly, Christians themselves," he said.
Leeds has previously been open about his Christian faith and about its importance on a national as well as personal level. He recently pledged to buy a disused church in his hometown of Walsall "not to make a profit, but rather to save it".
“I’m a Christian. I’m not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But when you turn your back on God, take His name in vain and openly mock Jesus Christ, which has become so normal in Britain, you cannot then expect everything to continue prospering without consequences," he said.
