An elderly evangelical Christian preacher suffering from cancer and diabetes would rather go to prison than withdraw a statement he made last year during a sermon in his north Belfast church where he called Islam ‘satanic.’ In an interview, an obdurate Pastor James McConnell, 78, who is facing a potential hate crime conviction, told the Belfast Telegraph that he is ready to serve his time in jail, unafraid to be locked up with sex offenders, hoodlums, and paramilitaries. ‘I have no regrets about what I said. I do not hate Muslims but I denounce Islam as a doctrine and I make no apologies for that. I will be pleading 'not guilty' when I stand in the dock in August.’