I can say that, as a member of the British Public I can now say that. I can even write it down on a lump of cardboard and prance about in front of Scientology Headquarters waving the placard above my head.

No big thing, you might say, as a British citizen you have freedom of speech, and anyway, didn’t a High Court Judge say the same thing a few years ago?

Well yes he did, and I thought I had the freedom to express criticism of the Church of Scientology or any other group. Not so, it appears, in the eyes of the City of London Police.

Earlier this year a sixteen year old boy who refused to remove a placard saying “Scientology is not a religion it is a dangerous cult” that he was displaying in front of the organisation’s London HQ was issued with a high court summons. It was issued under Section five of the Public Order Act on the grounds that his placard was offensive and incited religious hatred.

Obviously a well informed young man, he was able to quote the High Court Judge’s ruling in 1984 which described the Church of Scientology as a Cult, but to no avail.

The Boys in Blue passed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service, who this week passed it straight back informing the City of London Police that they would not be taking the case further and apparently included some advice on the difference between abuse and criticism.

I wonder, could this be the same City of London Police who were criticised a couple of years ago when it was revealed that more than 20 officers had shared gifts worth thousands of pounds from the Church and have a chief superintendent, Kevin Hurley, who has praised Scientology for “raising the spiritual worth of society”?

No matter what your opinion of Scientology is, I would expect anyone who believes in Freedom of Speech to applaud both the decision of the CPS and the tenacity of the young man who continued to speak out, even when ‘advised’ not to by the Police.

I think this demonstrates the danger that any law which restricts freedom of speech, such as the Public Order Act, is apt to be abused to silence