Thames Valley Police Apologises Over Breaking Up Legal Church Broadcast

Thames Valley Police have apologised after wrongly breaking up a legal church broadcast and pressing charges against the pastor.

Rev Daniel Mateolo said he was left feeling “deeply shocked and hurt” after nine officers disrupted an online broadcast taking place at Kingdom Faith Ministries International Church in Milton Keynes.

The broadcast, on 20 November, was part of a men’s conference to support male congregants struggling in the pandemic.

Police turned up at the Pentecostal church after receiving reports of “loud music”, and demanded that support staff working on the broadcast leave the building.

Although in-person services were banned during the second national lockdown, government guidance permitted church leaders to broadcast to their congregation online from their buildings.

Support staff deemed essential to the running of the service, like singers and sound engineers, were also permitted to be present, with no limit on this number.

Officers also claimed there were 30 people in the building at the time of the broadcast.  Pastor Mateola refuted this, saying there were only 15, each with a specific role and in separate rooms to ensure social distancing.

After breaking up the broadcast, police later turned up at the 49-year-old’s home and told him he would be prosecuted for breaking Covid-19 regulations.

Thames Valley Police have since apologised over the incident.