Police drop criminal investigation into street preacher

A pastor has hailed a “win at no cost speech” after police dropped a criminal investigation into him over comments he made about Islam and transgender ideology while street preaching. 

Pastor Dia Moodley, 58, was arrested in Bristol city centre last November on suspicion of “inciting religious hatred” and committing a Section 4A religiously aggravated public order offence under the Public Order Act 1986.

He was held in a police cell for eight hours and interrogated by the police before being released on bail. His bail conditions initially banned him from entering Bristol city centre but this requirement was later dropped. 

Following a months-long investigation, Avon and Somerset Police have decided to not take any further motion against the pastor. 

Welcoming the choice, Pastor Moodley said he was glad the investigation had been dropped but said his experience was “the definition of two-tier policing” and that Christian speech was being criminalised.

“This is a win at no cost speech, but I never must have been arrested, treated like a criminal, and investigated for months for peacefully sharing my faith in the general public square,” he said. 

He is consulting along with his legal team about possible legal motion against Avon and Somerset Police. 

“I’ll proceed to share my faith publicly, undeterred by the police’s censorship and the threats and violence I even have faced, and can stand at no cost speech not only for myself, but for the rights of all people within the UK,” he said. 

Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel at ADF, said the consequence was “a vindication of Pastor Dia’s lawful conduct”.

“He has been repeatedly arrested, imprisoned, and told that expressing his Christian views is a criminal matter. On every occasion, he has challenged this state overreach and prevailed,” he said.

It is the second time that police have dropped a criminal investigation into Pastor Moodley. The first time followed a previous arrest in March 2024 in connection along with his street preaching. His lawyers on the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) said that on this occasion, he was subjected to violence and threats from bystanders, yet Mr Moodley was the one who was arrested.

His lawyers said he was threatened again most recently on 4 April, with video evidence of a verbal threat from a Muslim bystander. Mr Moodley reported the person to the police who concluded that although his comments were “unpleasant”, they “don’t constitute an offence”.

Mr Igunnubole said there was a “two-tier approach” to policing in Britain. He called for renewed efforts to “retrain ideologically motivated police forces who too often find themselves unable or unwilling to distinguish between a lawful exercise of fundamental rights and actual violent criminality”

“The war of attrition against free speech within the UK, demonstrated in Pastor Dia’s case, must end,” he said.

“Censorial laws have to be repealed urgently, and stronger protections, including a Free Speech Bill, are needed to reverse the growing culture of censorship inside law enforcement.”