Peter Bull, the guesthouse owner whose legal battle to defend biblical marriage went all the way to the Sup-reme Court, has died peacefully in hospital aged 76.
In a statement from the Christian Institute, which supported Mr Bull and his wife Hazelmary since 2008, when legal proceedings first started against them, the organisation claimed the couple’s Christian witness had challenged people to remain faithful to God in their own workplaces.
Mr Bull was born in London and raised in Essex. A building surveyor by trade, he moved to Cornwall after marrying Hazelmary. Initially they ran a guesthouse in Redruth, before moving to Marazion 30 years ago.
In summer 1975, while attending Carnhell Green Fellowship, he was made conscious of his own sin and turned to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Three weeks later Hazelmary also trusted Christ as Saviour.
The couple welcomed anyone to their home, but consistently declined to let double rooms to unmarried couples. However, a same-sex couple launched legal proceedings against the Bulls after being refused a double bed in September 2008.
The couple’s case against the Bulls was financed by the taxpayer-funded Equality and Human Rights Commission.In January 2011, a judge at Bristol County Court ordered the couple to pay £3,600 to the two men for injury to feelings.
The Bull’s subsequent appeals to the Court of Appeal and, in November 2013, the UK Supreme Court were unsuccessful.
