Evangelical Protestant preacher Pastor James McConnell has been found not guilty of making grossly offensive remarks during a sermon in which he described Islam as 'heathen', 'satanic'.

This afternoon Pastor James McConnell, 78, of Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, walked free from Belfast Magistrates' Court after being cleared of sending grossly offensive messages.

The high profile evangelical pastor had been charged with two alleged offences after the sermon delivered from the pulpit of his Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle on May 18, 2014 was streamed online.

This afternoon Pastor James McConnell, 78, of Co Antrim, walked free from Belfast Magistrates' Court after being cleared of sending grossly offensive messages (pictured outside court following the verdict)

In his sermon he described Islam as a 'doctrine spawned in hell' and said he did not trust Muslims.

But following a hearing he was today cleared of 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.

The court heard although the words upon which the charges were based were offensive, they did not reach the high threshold of being 'grossly offensive'.

Delivering his reserved judgment, District Judge Liam McNally said: 'The courts need to be very careful not to criminalise speech which, however contemptible, is no more than offensive.

'It is not the task of the criminal law to censor offensive utterances.

'Accordingly I find Pastor McConnell not guilty of both charges.'

In his sermon (still from the footage pictured) the pastor described Islam as a 'doctrine spawned in hell'

As the judge delivered his reserved judgment, the crowd of up to 50 Christian supporters who had packed into the public gallery of courtroom 13 erupted into applause.

The judge said: 'He is a man with strong, passionate and sincerely held beliefs.

'In my view Pastor McConnell's mindset was that he was preaching to the converted in the form of his own congregation and like-minded people who were listening to his service rather than preaching to the worldwide internet.

He is a man with strong, passionate and sincerely held beliefs... his passion and enthusiasm for his subject caused him to, so to speak, 'lose the run of himself' - District Judge Liam McNally

'His passion and enthusiasm for his subject caused him to, so to speak, "lose the run of himself"'.

The judge said the comments about Islam being 'heathen' and 'satanic' were protected under human rights legislation.

When considering the remarks about mistrusting Muslims, Judge McNally said he was satisfied the pastor had not set out to intentionally cause offence.

If the preacher had qualified his remarks, as he did in subsequent media interviews, he could have been spared the legal battle, the court was told.

Judge McNally said: 'If he had clarified this in his sermon and set out in a clear and precise way why Sharia law was repugnant to him he could have saved himself a lot of trouble.

'In the manner in which he did express this he has, in my view characterised the followers of an entire religion in a stereotypical way.

'Indeed when he uses the word 'may' in the context of whether there are any good Muslims it leaves open the inference that that might not be exactly right and there may not be any good Muslims in Britain. Either way, he is making it crystal clear that he does not trust any Muslim.'

The distinction between offensive and grossly offensive was an important one and not easily made, the court heard.

'Context and circumstances are highly relevant and as the European Court of Human Rights observed... the right to freedom of expression includes the right to say things or express opinions that offend, shock or disturb the state or any section of the population,' said Judge McNally.

Following the verdict Pastor McConnell was greeted outside the court by werll-wishers and the media

Throughout proceedings Mr McConnell, who was dressed in a dark grey suit with grey shirt and pink and purple coloured tie, sat alongside his wife Margaret and other family members.

He was not required to sit in the dock.

During the three day trial in December, Mr McConnell spent more than an hour in the witness box giving evidence in his defence. He said he had not intended to provoke, hurt or offend anyone but was unrepentant for preaching the Christian gospel.

He also claimed he had refused the lesser punishment of an informed warning because it would be an insult to Jesus and he did not want to be 'gagged' in the future.

The prosecution had claimed it was a 'straightforward' case because the words were delivered in a rehearsed sermon to an audience of 2,000 and watched by 700 online, and had been carefully chosen.

Outside court hundreds of supporters cheered as Mr McConnell emerged. Some sang hymns as the preacher gave his reaction to the judgement.

'I am very happy,' he said, before adding he would do the sermon again, though word it differently.

'The only regret I have is the response from the Muslim community - that I 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.

Outside court hundreds of supporters cheered as Mr McConnell emerged and some even sang hymns

'If there are Muslims out there I want to assure them I love them and, if they need help, I am there to help them, but their theology and their beliefs I am totally against them.'

He added: 'I would do it again but I would word it differently because I would be conscious I was hurting innocent Muslims, I would be conscious I was hurting Muslims who have come here to work hard and are doing their best - there's no way I would hurt those people, but I would do it again - yes.'

The pastor said he did not realise how far his sermon would travel.

'As far as I was concerned I was preaching to my own people, I was preaching in my own church - I didn't realise it would go out there and so forth,' he said.

Mr McConnell also said he believed he had said 'worse things' in other sermons that had been streamed on-line.

ENOCH POWELL HAILED AS PROPHET IN SERMON THAT SPARKED CASE The case against Pastor James McConnell centred on a sermon delivered during a service at his Whitewell Tabernacle Church in north Belfast in May 2014. Here is a transcript of the section which sparked the controversy: 'Today we see powerful evidence that more and more Muslims are putting the Koran's hatred of Christians and Jews alike into practice. 'Now people say there are good Muslims in Britain, that may be so but I don't trust them. Enoch Powell was right and he lost his career because of it. 'Enoch Powell was a prophet and he told us that blood would flow in the streets and it has happened. 'Fifteen years ago Britain was concerned of IRA cells, right throughout the nation they done a deal with the IRA because they were frightened of being bombed. Today a new evil has arisen. There are cells of Muslims right throughout Britain. Can I hear an Amen? 'Right throughout Britain and this nation is going to enter a great tribulation and a great trial. To judge by some of what I have heard in the past few months you would think that Islam was a little more than a variation of Christianity and Judaism, not so. 'Islam's ideas about God about humanity, about salvation are vastly different from the teaching of the Holy Scriptures. Islam is heathen, Islam is satanic, Islam is a doctrine spawned in hell.' Advertisement

Pastor James McConnell is one of Northern Ireland's best known evangelical preachers with a congregation in which politicians, ex-paramilitaries and police officers worship side by side.

He described himself as Pentecostal with a 'capital P' and his trial heard how he was not the average 'watery clergyman' but someone who connected with society's 'untouchables'.

Born and raised by his grandparents in the working class Woodstock area of east Belfast - a staunchly Protestant suburb -- he endured a lonely and at times difficult childhood.

The death of his mother during the birth of a sibling and loss of his father and sister to tuberculosis left him an orphan at the age of eight.

Like many of his peers he left school at 14 to work in Belfast's bustling shipyard but having 'given his heart to God' as a child he was drawn towards full-time ministry three years later.

After a brief stint in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he returned to his native city aged 19 and set up a makeshift church on the Whitewell Road.

If the preacher had qualified his remarks he could have been spared the legal battle, the court was told

He also met and married Margaret, the mother of his two daughters, who was at his side during every court appearance.

Mr McConnell's first service, in 1957, was in front of just 22 people, but the ambitious and charismatic young preacher who had a unique style of ministry was soon packing the pews and in 1994 he opened one of Ulster's largest sanctuaries - the £12 million Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle on the Shore Road.

Mr McConnell has rarely shied away from publicity and when his sermon about Islam sparked a major controversy he took to television and radio to defend himself.

Following the public outcry the elderly preacher apologised for any offence or distress he may have caused but declined to retract the remarks.

The police initially investigated a potential hate crime but the Northern Ireland's Public Prosecution Service decided to pursue the case under the misuse of public communications.

Leading up to and throughout his three-day trial in December Mr McConnell remained defiant and said he would rather go to prison rather than stop preaching the Christian gospel.

Now aged 78, Mr McConnell's health is in decline. He has undergone major heart surgery including a quadruple by-pass and heart valve replacement, has also been treated for prostate cancer and suffers from diabetes.