'No regrets' for Grand Prix protester

Several drivers had to swerve to avoid Horan

The 56-year-old former priest who ran on to the track at this season's British Grand Prix has walked free from jail, insisting he has no regrets over his actions.

Cornelius Horan left court after being given a two-month jail sentence for aggravated trespass at Silverstone.

He had served more than two-thirds of the sentence on remand.

Millions of television viewers world-wide saw Horan breach security and get in front of cars wearing a tam-o'shanter and kilt and carrying religious-themed placards.

His protest was on the fastest part of the course, the Hangar Straight, where cars can reach up to 200 mph.

The former Roman Catholic priest said outside Northampton Magistrates' Court he believed the hand of God had protected him and the drivers as he ran on to the track to promote the Bible.

Horan, of Howbury Road, Nunhead, south London, claimed he received a signal from God to invade the track.

Several drivers had to swerve to avoid him and the safety car had to be deployed until Horan was rugby-tackled by a marshal and arrested.

Outside the court he said: "I felt the moment I stepped on to the course there was an unseen hand that gave me power. That unseen hand was God.

A marshal tackled Horan to the ground

"Not for one moment did I think I would die. I do believe that it saved the drivers as well because I would simply hate a driver to be injured or even killed.

"It just so happened that the Grand Prix was on and I decided to go to it and I decided it was a stage to show that great book the Bible.

"It was done on the spur of the moment. I didn't come up intending on going on to the track."

He said he was not planning any more stunts and would not break the law again.