A Christian preacher of 25 years was arrested after reportedly asking a woman in a headscarf what she thought about Quran verses on domestic violence.
John Steele, 60, had been out in Rotherham town centre on June 21 when he engaged in a ’30-second conversation’ with the passerby at a public awareness stall.
But following the encounter he was detained by police and threatened with a ‘non-crime hate incident’ (NCHI).
The South Yorkshire town has already been mired in accusations of ‘two-tier policing’ amid police reluctance to act on the systematic rape of young girls by predominantly Pakistani men due to community cohesion concerns.
In body worn camera footage of the incident Mr Steele chuckles to himself and tells police ‘the world’s gone mad’ adding ‘I asked a simple question’.
But an officer explains: ‘This is the world we live in. I think it was your delivery…. You could deem [this] behaviour and [your] actions as anti-social behaviour.’
Another police officer says the victim felt ‘frightened’, adding: ‘That lady has flagged a police officer down and said she has felt threatened by your manner. So for me that’s anti-social.’
Mr Steele, who has been preaching the gospel for 25 years without incident, had been holding a sign that read ‘God now commandeth all men every where to repent – Acts 17.30’.
Following the encounter John Steele was detained by police and threatened with a ‘non-crime hate incident’ (NCHI)
In body worn camera footage of the incident Mr Steele chuckles to himself and tells police ‘the world’s gone mad’ adding ‘I asked a simple question’
Mr Steele, who has been preaching the gospel for 25 years without incident, had been holding a sign that read ‘God now commandeth all men every where to repent – Acts 17.30’
The former miner and long-serving bus driver claimed the conversation with the member of the public had been brief and polite.
Despite this, officers can be heard demanding Mr Steele’s personal details which he refuses to provide.
A policeman says: ‘John, we’re saying you’ve behaved in an anti-social manner because she’s felt harassed, alarmed and distressed by your behaviour – by how you’ve approached her and the question that you’ve asked her and the manner that you’ve asked it.’
The officer adds: ‘I’ve never had any issues with you before.’
Following his continued refusal to provide his details, Mr Steele is then led away to a police car.
His representatives have claimed he was taken to Rotherham police station, where he was detained, fingerprinted, and DNA-swabbed.
A court date was set but the Crown Prosecution has since discontinued the case, stating the prosecution was ‘not needed in the public interest’.
Mr Steele, a former heavy drinker and militant during the 1984 miners’ strike, said he became a born-again Christian in 1987 after reading Psalm 7.
Following his continued refusal to provide his details, Mr Steele is then led away to a police car. The long-standing preacher is pictured here rolling up his sign
Speaking on his experience, Mr Steele said: ‘I’ve spent my life trying to help people find hope and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. I’ve seen the devastation caused by abuse, and I wanted to speak truth in love. Instead, I was treated like a criminal.
‘I was shocked and gobsmacked. How can asking a question be labelled as hate?
‘It was degrading. They took my DNA and fingerprints, for what? A 30-second conversation.
‘This wasn’t about me. It’s about the erosion of our hard-won freedoms and the right to speak truth in love.
‘I’ve never been arrested in 25 years. I wasn’t there to cause trouble, I was there out of love, to share hope and to help people understand the love of Christ.’
Mr Steele had reportedly been questioning the passerby on a Quran verse that reads: ‘if you sense ill-conduct from your women, advise them ˹first˺, ˹if they persist,˺ do not share their beds, ˹but if they still persist,˺ then discipline them ˹gently˺’.
The verse has caused controversy with critics saying it justifies domestic violence while proponents argue it has been taken out of context.
Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: ‘We welcome the fact that this case has now been dropped, but it should never have progressed as far as it did.
‘This is a clear and disturbing example of two-tier policing. It is both irrational and unlawful for officers to threaten members of the public with so-called ‘non-crime hate incidents’ simply for expressing lawful and peaceful views.
Ms Williams added South Yorkshire had been ‘one again undermining public trust’ following the incident and her group would be investigating whether a ‘hate incident’ had been wrongly recorded against Mr Steele’s name ‘despite his complete vindication’.
Over 250,000 NCHIs have been recorded in England and Wales since 2014 – an average of 68 per day.
Critics argue that NCHIs are being weaponised to silence dissent, especially on controversial topics.
NCHIs are defined by the UK College of Policing as: ‘Any non-crime incident which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person’s race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or transgender status.’
No evidence is required, and no crime needs to have occurred. If someone feels offended or distressed, police are instructed to record the incident, often placing it on the individual’s police record despite no crime having been committed.
