A teacher claims he was persecuted for being a Christian after he suggested Lucy Connolly was a victim of "two-tier policing."

Simon Pearson said he was accused of Islamophobia after he told a private Facebook group he believed Connolly should not have been jailed.

A disciplinary process was launched into the 56-year-old after a complaint was made by a Muslim representative of the National Education Union (NEU).

Pearson told The Telegraph he believed he would still have been in a job if he had been accused of offending Christians as opposed to Muslims.

Lucy Connolly was arrested and imprisoned after posted on social media: "Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f***ng hotels full of the b******s for all I care."

Pearson, who is originally from Southport, posted a message to his private Facebook group where he criticised the comment as "appalling" but added she should not have been jailed.

He posted to the group: "People presumed the worst and were outraged by the killing of three little girls. It was wrong but how many Islamists plots and crimes have been experienced in our country.

"The Manchester Arena bombing, Lee Rigby, etc...Certain sections of society calling for the genocide of Jews from the river to the sea are also free to express their opinions and make Jewish people afraid to walk the streets

"There is a two tier policy from the top down. Has our country's woke leadership lost its mind?"

PA/NORTHAMPTONSHIRE POLICE

Pearson claimed he has been rejected for "literally hundreds" of jobs he has applied for.

He said that as soon as he tells prospective employers that he was accused of Islamophobia, "they don’t want to know."

Now he is taking his former employer, Preston College, to an employment tribunal, claiming unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal and discrimination.

Pearson told The Telegraph the post was an expression of protected philosophical and Christian beliefs, including freedom of expression, equal justice and supporting the rule of law.

X | Lucy Connolly was imprisoned for 31 months in October after being found guilty of inciting racial hatred after writing on social media that migrant hotels should be set on fire on the same day as the Southport attack.

Pearson said: "I think in a way the most persecuted religion on the planet at the moment is Christians.

"I don’t see why we should have special treatment just for one certain religion. I think all religions should be treated equally.

"People should be aware and concerned about the state of our nation where we can’t express what we really think.

"You know the police, the authorities want to even impose upon our thoughts, our prayers, things like that."

Pearson, who lives near Preston, Lancs, deleted the post after he was suspended and apologised on his Facebook page for any offence he had caused.

However, he refused to apologise because he had not changed his views on what he believed was "fair comment."

While he has a new job now that does not involve teaching, he said he missed working in education, adding: "I'd like to get back to work.

"I love my job. I love the students. I just never had any complaint by anybody."

He also denied being Islamophobic, saying he once helped a family of asylum seekers from a Muslim country by writing to their local MP and former Home Secretary Jack Straw, supporting their claim for asylum.

Pearson said: "I didn’t mention any race in the posts. I mentioned Islamists, extremists who’ve done acts of terror. It was obvious that’s what I was talking about from the post."

Chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre Andrea Williams said: "Pearson’s dismissal is yet another example of how Christian teachers are being silenced for expressing views that challenge and question prevailing secular ideologies and two-tier justice.

"Freedom of speech and belief must be protected in our schools and our public and private lives, especially when it comes to matters of faith and conscience."