A retired science teacher has failed in his bid to overturn his conviction for harassing a church vicar.

Iain Burgess, 74, claimed his insulting letters to Reverend Graham Singh, of St John the Baptist Church, in Hampton Wick, were justified by his right to freedom of speech.

He described the Canadian-born clergyman as a “creeping Jesus” and accused him of turning the church into a “mission hall” for drug addicts and alcoholics.

Recorder John McGuiness QC said at Kingston Crown Court on Friday, January 6, that he rejected Burgess´s claim he had a right to send the letters.

He said: “The documents that refer to Rev Singh refer to him in a manner that is clearly, one might say, hostile.

“A number of the letters make reference to the Rev Singh having an oily demeanour and a number refer to the fact he comes from Canada, drawing the distinction that he was not, as the appellant is, a member of the community of Hampton Wick.

“Rev Singh said that the contents and the fact he received these documents over such a period of time affected his health and became a theme in his life, such that it made him lose the ability to sleep.

“He spoke of waking up at night and he said it became too much for him and he had to pray it would stop. The whole thing, he said, made him sick and tired.”

Burgess, of Cedars Road, Hampton Wick, was found guilty at Richmond Magistrates’ Court in October last year, of harassing father-of-two Mr Singh.

The court heard Burgess had since been seen near the vicar´s house, but the retired teacher described this as “complete fiction”, prompting Mr Singh to storm from the courtroom’s public gallery.

Recorder McGuiness upheld the conviction and extended a restraining order to ban Burgess from going within 100 yards of St John the Baptist Church or Mr Singh´s home in Broom Road, Teddington.

Burgess, who distributed his letters around Hampton Wick, claimed they were justifiable comment on public affairs.

He said: “If in any public controversy you´re going to sit down and worry about upsetting the opposition, then all public and political life is going to come to an end.”