A Christian in a criminal trial has been acquitted of handing out a Christian tract containing Christian beliefs.
Really.
It was police and prosecutors in the Soho district in London who assembled a criminal charge against Richard Johnson for simply handing out to others a document with the traditional beliefs of the historic Christian church.
The Christian Legal Center fought on his behalf, and the chief executive, Andrea Williams, said the acquittal was welcome.
“Richard Johnson should never have endured nearly two years with a criminal prosecution hanging over him simply for peacefully distributing a Christian Gospel tract,” Williams said. “The prosecution’s reliance on Soho being an LGBT ‘safe space’ was deeply troubling. No part of London can become a censorship zone in which lawful Christian beliefs are subjected to a different standard because some people find them offensive. Freedom of religion and freedom of expression belong to everyone, everywhere.”
And Williams called for the case to be a lesson for prosecutors and police.
“The court was right to recognise the high threshold that must be crossed before the message of the Bible is criminalized. Richard did not threaten or intimidate anyone. He was sharing a biblical message about sin, repentance and salvation which Christians have proclaimed for centuries. A free society must protect the right to express beliefs that challenge, provoke or offend. The police and Crown Prosecution Service must learn urgent lessons from this case and stop dragging peaceful Christian evangelists through the criminal courts.”
Johnson, 72, was found not guilty at London Magistrates’ Court over charges filed because someone took offense at the Gospel tract he handed out.
Street preacher acquitted after ‘LGBT safe space’ prosecution over Christian tract https://t.co/07NQygOWdQ
— The Christian Post (@ChristianPost) September 10, 2026
Protestia: Evangelist, 72, Acquitted of Handing Out Bible Tract in ‘LGBT safe space’ https://t.co/4Yx5lt5VTA pic.twitter.com/XUf07XRIMc
— Protestia (@Protestia) September 11, 2026
He was prosecuted under section 4A of the Public Order Act 1986 after copies of the illustrated tract “Doom Town” were distributed in April 2025.
The tract tells the fate, documented in the Bible, of Sodom and Gomorrah, and explains the Christian message of sin, judgment, repentance and salvation.
Christian Concern said two people were “distressed” and claimed that Soho should be a zone where the LGBT community is protected from any messages they dislike.
Prosecutors actually adopted that argument for use in court.
“It is believed to be the first time the CPS has pursued a prosecution of this kind on the basis of such a geographical ‘safe space’ argument,” Christian Concern explained.
But there is no legal provision for a special censorship program there, and Michael Phillips, representing Johnson, explained lawful speech remains lawful speech under the law.
The magistrates court concluded although biblical messages may be “offensive,” there was not enough evidence that there actually was any crime.
Johnson testified to his being victimized by sexual abuse at a boarding school, then engaging in alternative sexual lifestyle choices.
“In his mid-50s he became a born-again Christian, left his former bisexual lifestyle, wanted to tell others of the miracle in his life and the peace he had found and began evangelising wherever he went,” Christian Concern explained.
He’s distributed Christian literature throughout England and Europe, estimating he’s handed out more than 100,000 Gospel tracts, dealing with a variety of topics.
He testified before this case, he’d never been attacked by police and prosecutors.
Prosecutors presented a witness who claimed Soho had to be a “safe space” for LGBT people. Prosecutors’ message was that speech there could be judged on a different basis than speech in other locations.
A defense expert explained to the court there’s a difference between describing a biblical judgment and calling for violence against LGBT members.
The court found the prosecution failed in that there was no evidence of threatening conduct and the material was not criminal.
