The Crown Prosecution Service has dropped the case against a Christian street preacher arrested under hate crime legislation while preaching in Liverpool city centre, it was reported in late June, as it would not be in the public interest to prosecute him.
Alex Peverely was preaching on different issues, including same sex ‘marriage’, when he was approached by an employee of the nearby Playhouse Theatre. The employee asked him to reduce the volume, claiming that the theatre had received a complaint from a customer.
Shortly after this, Alex was approached by two uniformed police officers who had been informed that a hate crime had been committed by a man shouting homophobic abuse.
During the course of the conversation, the officers detained Alex illegally saying that he had breached section five of the Public Order Act. When Alex refused to provide his name, he was arrested and taken to St Anne’s police station. During his stay in custody for approximately six hours, Alex was interviewed by two police officers including a detective sergeant.
