Adam Smith-Connor was last month found guilty by magistrates in Bournemouth of violating prohibitions on behaviour with a 150-metre buffer zone around an abortion clinic in the town.
He was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £9,000 but has announced that he will take his case to the Court of Appeal.
His decision comes as the government regulations enforce buffer zones around every abortion clinic in England and Wales and as Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) unveiled guidance clarifying that silent prayer is “not necessarily” a crime in any abortion buffer zone.
The CPS said that for an offence of harassment to be committed the activities of the accused must be “overt”.
Mr Smith-Connor told magistrates, however, that he was in a normal standing position on a public green away on the other side of the road from the abortion clinic, and was facing the opposite direction, when he prayed silently in his head.
Magistrates noted that his head was slightly bowed and his hands clasped at his waist in an “at ease” posture.
Mr Smith-Connor said: “Surely a silent thought cannot be a crime … The government simply cannot be allowed to determine the content of thoughts and prayers.
“I served for 20 years in the army reserves, including a tour in Afghanistan, to protect the fundamental freedoms that this country is built upon.
“I continue that spirit of service as a health care professional and church volunteer. It troubles me greatly to see our freedoms eroded to the extent that thought-crimes are now being prosecuted in the UK.”
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council spent more than £100,000 of public funds prosecuting Mr Smith-Connor for his silent thoughts, for a charge with a maximum penalty of £1,000.
The guidance issued yesterday by CPS confirms former Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s views that “silent prayer, within itself, is not unlawful”.
Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF UK, the charity supporting Mr Smith-Connor, said: “We are glad that the CPS has confirmed that silent prayer is not necessarily a criminal offence and that there must be evidence of overt activity.
“This is commonsense and consistent with the absolute right to freedom of thought protected under domestic and international law.
“Previous Home Secretaries and the magistrates’ court have repeatedly concluded that silent prayer, within itself, cannot constitute a criminal offence.
“Now that CPS guidance has recognised the same, it is incumbent on police officers and local authorities to refrain from ideological and discriminatory interpretations which seek to criminalise prayer itself rather than overt conduct amounting to harassment and intimidation.”
He continued: “It’s for this reason that we are glad to support Adam as he pursues an appeal of his conviction for praying silently without engaging anyone or being obtrusive in any way.”
He added: “This is a watershed moment for British freedoms, and one the public must not take lightly.
“A failure to protect thought and peaceful conduct anywhere creates a threat to these rights everywhere. Buffer zones or otherwise, we should uncompromisingly safeguard the rights on which our democracy is based.”
The new legislation, contained in section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023, criminalises a range of activities within a 150-metre perimeter of an abortion facility.
Such activities potentially include prayer, thought, peaceful presence, consensual communication and offers of practical support to women in vulnerable situations, should any of these be deemed to influence or interfere with access to the clinic.
Auxiliary Bishop John Sherrington of Westminster, the Lead Bishop for Life Issues, said: “This would represent, in effect, a new form of discrimination and authoritarianism’.
“By legislating for and implementing so-called ‘safe access zones’, the UK Government has taken an unnecessary and disproportionate step backwards in the protection of religious and civic freedoms in England and Wales.”
In September police paid £13,000 in compensation to a Catholic woman who was wrongfully arrested for praying silently outside an abortion clinic.
West Midlands Police conceded claims of two wrongful arrests of Isabel Vaughan-Spruce along with false imprisonments, assault and battery in relation to an intrusive search, a breach of her human rights and to the onerous bail conditions they imposed on her.
The award was hailed by ADF UK, the legal group that supported Ms Vaughan-Spruce, as a major victory for freedom of speech in the first “thought crime” case in the UK for hundreds of years.
Ms Vaughan-Spruce said: “Silent prayer is not a crime. Nobody should be arrested merely for the thoughts they have in their heads – yet this happened to me twice at the hands of the West Midlands Police, who explicitly told me that prayer is an offence.
“There is no place for Orwell’s ‘thought police’ in 21st Century Britain … Our culture is shifting towards a clamp down on viewpoint diversity, with Christian thought and prayer increasingly under threat of censorship.”