A Christian student was wrongly expelled from university for his views on gay marriage, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

Felix Ngole was a student in the MA programme in social work at the University of Sheffield until he was expelled for sharing comments on Facebook saying, “the Bible and God identify homosexuality as a sin.”

Ngole then challenged the issue in court, filing a lawsuit against the university.

In 2017 Deputy High Court Judge Rowena Collins Rice ruled that Ngole’s comments disqualified him from being a social worker, saying that “social workers have considerable power over the lives of vulnerable service users and trust is a precious professional commodity.”

However, on Wednesday, three appellate judges announced they had overturned the original ruling.

After the original 2017 ruling, Ngole told the BBC that “it sends a chilling message that if you are a Christian and you hold traditional Christian views you should be careful not to express them because you might end up losing your job.”

After winning his appeal, Ngole said: “This is great news, not only for me and my family, but for everyone who cares about freedom of speech, especially for those working in or studying for caring professions.”