MAN RAN HATE CRUSADE AGAINST JESUS PEOPLE

Source : 7/6/1988 Northampton Chronicle and Echo

A Paranoid man carried out a one-man crusade of hate against the Jesus Fellowship because he did not like the way they celebrated Christmas, a court heard.

Mr Richard Dixon, prosecuting, told Northampton Crown Court how the man started his vendetta against the Bugbrooke-based cult in 1985.

And in his two year campaign, he:

Attacked one member of the organisation with a can of paint.

Left a gas cooker turned on and taps running at one of the group's houses.

Repeatedly daubed graffiti on the group's New Creation Hall.

The man (45), a winder with an electrical firm, was sentenced to two years' probation with condition of psychiatric treatment.

He pleaded guilty to burglary with intent to cause damage at The Mounts, High Street, Bugbrooke, in March 1987 and to damaging property and contents at the same address.

He also admitted maliciously wounding a church member in October 1987.

Mr Dixon said the man mounted a campaign against the Jesus Fellowship Church in December 1985 because he was against their ideas about Christmas celebrations.

In March 1987 he ransacked The Mounts and in October he threw a can of paint at a Fellowship member.

The Fellowship member needed three stitches to a facial injury and was covered with white paint, said Mr Dixon.

The man, of Birmingham, asked for another 11 offences of daubing graffiti on the church's New Creation Hall to be taken into consideration.

Miss Geraldine Melnick, defending, said the man had committed no more offences since 1987. He had got over his paranoia, she said.

Judge Francis Allen also ordered the man to pay £150 prosecution costs.