Gilbert Deya: Kenyan 'miracle babies' pastor acquitted of child trafficking

A controversial Kenyan televangelist, who claimed he created miraculous pregnancies, has been acquitted of child-trafficking charges due to insufficient evidence.

The prosecution failed to prove that Gilbert Deya stole five children two decades ago, a Kenyan magistrate said.

He had been accused of handing them to women struggling to become pregnant.

The self-styled pastor was extradited from the UK in 2017, after his decade-long legal battle to remain failed.

Concerns were first raised about the conduct of Mr Deya, who ran a church in London, in a BBC investigation in 2004.

Women experiencing difficulties conceiving who attended the Gilbert Deya Ministries church in Peckham, south-east London, were told they could have "miracle" babies.

But the babies were always "delivered" in backstreet clinics in Kenya's capital, Nairobi.

Mr Deya later moved to Scotland, and was arrested in Edinburgh in 2006 under an international arrest warrant issued by Kenya.

In his ruling on Monday, magistrate Robison Ondieki said the prosecution had "failed to establish circumstantial evidence", the Star newspaper quotes him as saying.

Speaking outside court, Mr Deya said that he had forgiven those who wanted to see him in jail, Kenyan media report.

"The case tainted my name... but I'm happy that I'm going back to the ministry ...I'm happy that I've been acquitted," he said, according to the Citizen website.

He also hinted that he may seek to return to the UK.