Judge ‘was maybe wrong to condemn B&B owners’

A JUDGE who condemned a Christian couple for turning away gay guests from their hotel yesterday said her decision may have been wrong.

Supreme Court deputy president Baroness Hale called for a rethink on religious and gay rights six months after she rejected the B&B owners’ arguments in a key test case.

Lady Hale said in a speech that the law has done too little to protect the beliefs of Christians. And she cast doubts over her own ruling in the landmark case in which a gay couple sued Christian hoteliers Peter and Hazelmary Bull.

Mr Bull, 74, and his 70-year-old wife refused a double room at their Cornish hotel to Steven Preddy and Martyn Hall in 2008 because they were not a married, heterosexual couple.

A legal battle culminated in defeat for the Bulls at the Supreme Court where Lady Hale, leading four other judges, ruled the rights of the gay couple outweighed the conscience of the Christian couple. But last week, in a highly unusual move, Lady Hale and fellow judges decided the Bulls will not be liable for legal costs, sparing them a huge bill.

And in a speech to Irish lawyers yesterday she gave a hint her judgment against the Bulls may have been too harsh, asking whether courts would be better off taking a ‘more nuanced approach’.

Lady Hale said the law should develop a ‘conscience clause’ for Christians like the Bulls.