Retired Kingston science teacher guilty of harassment

Iain Burgess, 74, claimed Reverend Graham Singh drove away middle-class parishioners from St John the Baptist Church, in Church Grove, Hampton Wick, by turning it into a "mission hall".

The former Kingston Debating Society member, who is banned from Kingston town centre on certain days for an earlier harassment conviction, described Rev Singh as a "creeping Jesus" for encouraging drug addicts and alcoholics to join the church, the court heard.

Burgess, who is now a member of Kingston Methodist Church in Fairfield South, burst on to the stage during a public meeting and grabbed a microphone from the vicar as he spoke to up to 150 people.

Actor and Hampton Wick resident John Altman, who played 'Nasty' Nick Cotton in EastEnders, was among those in the shocked congregation who shouted at Burgess to sit down.

Burgess, of Cedars Road, Hampton Wick, was convicted of harassing Rev Singh between April 2010 and April this year, following a trial at Richmond Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, October 6.

Rev Singh told the court he prayed for the former teacher because he was worried about his mental health.

He told Burgess: "I pray you will get well and you will find a better place to move on to in your life."

Rev Singh said Burgess’s letters – which he distributed around Hampton Wick – had "stirred up" the whole congregation and his "hate campaign" dominated conversations within the church.

The Canadian-born vicar said his suggestion that people, such as single mothers, alcoholics and homosexuals should not be welcomed was "repulsive".

He said: "Mr Burgess’s suggestion that these people simply do not exist in Hampton Wick is either misguided or represents a disconnection from reality, which I find deeply concerning in many ways."

The court heard his congregation was now one of the fastest growing in the Church of England, with more than 250 regular members.

Burgess, secretary of the Hampton Wick Church Action Group, claimed his letters were "justifiable comment on public affairs".

He said: "These are people who have come to wreck our church. I have no mercy on them."

He said the vicar had a "happy-clappy" style and put on a "pop singer-type exhibition".

He said: "I go to church to worship God, not to eat and drink and listen to jazz bands and have history exhibitions."

He also claimed Rev Singh threatened him with violence as he banned him from entering the church.

The clergyman denied this.

Magistrates allowed Burgess to remain on bail and ordered him to return for sentence on October 26.

- Iain Burgess left Kingston Debating Society in 1996 when he was convicted of harassment.

- He told they Surrey Comet that during the ongoing row he had spent eight days in prison and was briefly sent to a psychiatric ward at Tolworth Hospital, which he attributed to confusion over his Gandhian non-violent protest.

- To this day he is still banned from entering Kingston town centre on a Thursday evening between September and April because of this.

- Speaking after his conviction for harassing Reverend Graham Singh, he said: "It is interesting how history repeats itself.

- "It [the harassment conviction] has been used to shut someone up in this case."

- He was also sacked from his job as Father Christmas at Bentalls department store in Kingston in 1992 after claims he had drunk six pints of beer during his lunch break – which he denies.

- He is now a member of Kingston Methodist Church in Fairfield South.