Judge Liam McNally told Belfast Magistrates’ Court he did think the pastor’s passion in preaching meant it “had caused him to lose the run of himself” and advised him to consider the impact of his words in future. However, he concluded that the words upon which the charges were based, while offensive, do not reach the high threshold of being “grossly offensive”. “The courts need to be very careful not to criminalise speech which, however contemptible, is no more than offensive,” he said. “It is not the task of the criminal law to censor offensive utterances.”

Evangelical Christian preacher Pastor James McConnell has been found not guilty of making “grossly offensive” remarks about Islam.

The 78-year-old, from Shore Road in Newtownabbey, County Antrim, denied two charges relating to a sermon he gave in a Belfast church in 2014.

A judge said while he considered the remarks offensive, he did not consider them “grossly” offensive under the law.

Supporters of the pastor applauded when the verdict was given.

Speaking outside court, Mr McConnell said his only regret was the response from the Muslim community that he was “out to hurt them”.

He said: “There was no way I was out to hurt them. I wouldn’t hurt a hair on their head.

“But what I am against is their theology and what they believe in.”

He said he would do it again, but would be conscious that he was “hurting innocent Muslims”.

Mr McConnell had denied two charges – improper use of a public electronic communications network and causing a grossly offensive message to be sent by means of a public electronic communications network.

He made the remarks at the Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle in north Belfast in May 2014. His sermon was also streamed online.

During the trial, Mr McConnell said that he still believed in what he had preached, and did not go into church to “provoke anyone”.

A prosecution lawyer had said his words were not “a slip of the tongue”, while a defence lawyer said he should not be convicted.

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