A church in London has been fined almost £8,000 after a series of noisy 3am sermons aimed at battling 'witchcraft' woke up its neighbours.
Kingdom Church in Camberwell holds weekly 'healing and miracle' services aimed at training parishioners to be 'wise to the wiles of the devil' in the early hours of the morning.
But the preaching which goes on during the events has brought complaints from neighbours and a £7,740 'anti-social behaviour' fine.
The church was set up in London by a Bishop Climate Irungu, who claims God delivered him from a life of 'alcohol and drug addiction, street fights and gang life'.
As well as meetings on Fridays and Sundays, it holds early Saturday morning 'deliverance services' to help its congregation 'identify demonic attacks'.
Its website states: 'It is a well-known time that witchcraft and negative elements begin to work in the early hours of the morning.
'Programming yourself to be alert and in prayer at this time sets you on the path to being alert and wise to the wiles of the devil.
Southwark councillor Michael Situ said: 'We would have preferred to settle this matter out of court, but unfortunately our attempts to work with the church leaders were ignored.
'We hope the penalty helps to remind both the leaders, and the wider community, anti-social behaviour of any kind will not be tolerated and wrongdoers will be made to pay one way or another.'
Bishop Climate insists the church was there before the residents and it has made every effort to cut the noise.
He told Southwark News: 'It is a big fine and we will be appealing against it. I do not deny that we made some noise – we did. But we have spent nearly ten thousand pounds reducing the noise. And I was out of the country so could not go to court.
'We are based is an industrial area. But there are new flats and they complain. The flats were meant to be offices but they became houses. People could hear it, especially in summer when they open their windows.'
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