Stephen Fry under police investigation for blasphemy after branding God an 'utter maniac'

Faces a €25,000 fine if convicted under Ireland's 2009 Defamation Act

Stephen Fry is being investigated by Irish police over blasphemy claims more than two years after his outspoken comments about God on RTE's The Meaning of Life went viral.

Mr Fry described a hypothetical creator as “stupid” and an “utter maniac” for designing a world filled with undue suffering.

Asked in 2015 by the programme's host, Gay Byrne, what he would say to God if he arrived at the pearly gates of heaven, the actor and author replied: “I’d say, bone cancer in children? What’s that about?”

The committed atheist added: “How dare you? How dare you create a world to which there is such misery that is not our fault? It’s not right, it’s utterly, utterly evil.

“Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid god who creates a world that is so full of injustice and pain?

“We have to spend our life on our knees thanking him? What kind of god would do that?

“The god who created this universe, if it was created by god, is quite clearly a maniac, an utter maniac, totally selfish.”

A Gardai spokeswoman told The Independent: “We're not commenting on an ongoing investigation.”

According to the Irish Independent the comment were originally reported to police in 2015. The complainant is said to have followed up last year, and to have received a phone call from a detective some weeks ago to discuss the case.

The paper quoted a source as saying a prosecution was unlikely.

Under Ireland's 2009 Defamation Act, anyone “who publishes or utters blasphemous matter shall be guilty of an offence” and liable to a fine of up to €25,000 (£21,200).

A spokesman for Mr Fry told the Daily Telegraph there was “nothing for us to say while this is under investigation”.

Tweeting about the story, the British Humanist Association said: “What is the world coming to?”