A 78-year-old retired pastor from Northern Ireland has been convicted and fined for preaching a Bible verse on a public road outside a hospital, in a case that has intensified debate over free speech and religious liberty in the United Kingdom.

Clive Johnston, a long-serving Christian minister, was found guilty at Coleraine Magistrates’ Court of breaching a “safe access zone” around Causeway Hospital in Coleraine. The zone was created under Northern Ireland’s Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act, which bans any act deemed to be “influencing,” “impeding access,” or causing “harassment, alarm or distress” to those entering facilities where abortions are provided.

Johnston was judged to have “influenced” protected persons by preaching within 100 meters of the hospital and was fined 450 pounds. He had been reading and expounding John 3:16, one of the most widely known verses in the New Testament, and maintains that he did not mention abortion or address anyone directly.

“At 78 years old, I never imagined I would leave a courtroom with a criminal conviction for preaching the Christian gospel,” he said after the verdict, warning that the ruling “effectively redefines peaceful Christian witness as a form of unlawful influence.”

Body camera footage from the incident shows a police officer informing Johnston that he is inside a clearly marked safe access zone and warning that his preaching could be considered an offense if it affected patients, staff, or others using the hospital’s services. The officer suggested he move to the hospital chaplaincy if he wished to offer religious guidance.

Johnston’s case has been backed by the Christian Institute, which argues that he may be the first person convicted under the law for a sermon that did not reference abortion. Its director, Ciarán Kelly, described the ruling as “creeping censorship” and said the group is assisting Johnston as he considers an appeal.

The case comes amid a series of prosecutions and arrests linked to buffer zone legislation across the UK, including actions against individuals who silently prayed or held signs offering conversation near abortion facilities. Critics say the laws are drafted so broadly that they risk criminalizing ordinary religious expression in public spaces.

Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service said Johnston was convicted of acting in a safe access zone with intent, or recklessness, as to whether his conduct would influence a protected person, and of failing to comply with a direction to leave the area.