Bishop Climate Wiseman's 'Plague Protection Kit'
The story
Skip to the verdict ↓In March 2020, self-styled Bishop Climate Wiseman sold a 'Divine Cleansing Oil' and a £91 'Divine Plague Protection Kit' — oil, a card, and scarlet yarn — marketed with Passover and hyssop scripture as conferring supernatural protection from and cure of COVID-19. A jury convicted him of fraud in 2022; the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal in 2023, and the Charity Commission found no scientific basis for the claims.
As COVID-19 spread in March 2020, Climate Wiseman — the self-styled bishop who led the Kingdom Church in Camberwell, south London, and was known variously as Bishop, Doctor, or Prophet Climate Wiseman — began selling what he called a "Divine Cleansing Oil" and a "Divine Plague Protection Kit." The oil was a mixture of hyssop, cedarwood, and olive oil; the kit paired it with a card and a length of scarlet yarn and sold for £91. The marketing drew on the Passover narrative in Exodus, in which the Israelites marked their doorposts with hyssop to be passed over by the plague, and it presented the oil as conferring supernatural protection from — and a cure for — the coronavirus.
On 24 March 2020, Southwark Trading Standards raised the alarm, and a BBC investigation followed. The buyers were members of a congregation who trusted their pastor; some worked as nurses on the front line of the pandemic. The case that went to trial was not about their sincerity but about Wiseman's honesty in what he sold and claimed.
At Inner London Crown Court, a jury convicted Wiseman of fraud under the Fraud Act 2006 on 9 December 2022. On 6 February 2023 he was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment suspended for 24 months, ordered to complete 130 hours of unpaid work, and to pay £60,072.50 in costs. He appealed, arguing the trial judge had misdirected the jury on knowledge and dishonesty and had mishandled an error in his own counsel's closing speech. On 29 November 2023 the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal against conviction, with the Lady Chief Justice, Lady Carr — sitting with Mr Justice Goose and Mr Justice Foxton — stating the court was "not persuaded that the conviction was unsafe" (Wiseman v Rex [2023] EWCA Crim 1363).
The regulator reached the same place by a different route. The Charity Commission for England and Wales, investigating the linked Kingdom Church GB charity, found there was "no scientific basis" for the claim that the oil would cure or protect against COVID-19, and disqualified Wiseman from acting as a charity trustee for 15 years, effective 19 June 2023.
Would be extraordinary if real — but it has been positively shown false.
Reviewer Notes
Miracles Jar weighs each claim two ways — how extraordinary it would be, and how strong the evidence is.
Assessed by Miracles Jar AI
Not “low evidence” — positive proof it’s false: positive evidence shows the claimed facts are false.
Adjudicated fraud — jury conviction (Fraud Act 2006), appeal dismissed, and a regulator finding of no scientific basis.
The Case
This is adjudicated fraud. A jury convicted Climate Wiseman under the Fraud Act 2006 over the marketing and sale of an oil claimed to cure and protect against COVID-19; the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal against conviction; and the Charity Commission found no scientific basis for the claim. The dishonesty finding is a matter of public record, and it concerns Wiseman's marketing — not the sincerity of the people who bought the kit.
What was sold, and to whom
The "Divine Cleansing Oil" was hyssop, cedarwood, and olive oil; the £91 "Divine Plague Protection Kit" added a card and scarlet yarn, framed with the Passover and hyssop imagery of Exodus. The buyers deserve to be understood sympathetically: they were members of a congregation who trusted their pastor, and some were nurses working through the pandemic. Believing a pastor's promise is not the offence here — selling that promise dishonestly is.
Why the claim fails on its own terms
There is no scientific basis for oil, a card, or scarlet yarn preventing or curing a viral infection, and the Charity Commission said so in exactly those words. The great majority of people who contract COVID-19 recover; a purchaser who took the oil and recovered would have recovered anyway. Any comfort the ritual provided — the reassurance of a blessed object, or the mild symptomatic relief of steam and warm oil — is the ordinary territory of placebo, not a supernatural cure.
The record
The procedural facts are firm and independently sourced. Conviction: Inner London Crown Court, 9 December 2022. Sentence: 6 February 2023 — 12 months suspended for 24 months, 130 hours unpaid work, £60,072.50 costs. Appeal against conviction dismissed 29 November 2023, Wiseman v Rex [2023] EWCA Crim 1363, the court "not persuaded that the conviction was unsafe" (Lady Carr LCJ). Regulator: Charity Commission disqualification of 15 years, effective 19 June 2023, on a finding of "no scientific basis." Two independent authorities — a criminal court and a charity regulator — reached the same conclusion about the same claim.
Evidence ledger — what the verdict rests on
A jury convicted Wiseman of fraud (Fraud Act 2006) at Inner London Crown Court on 9 December 2022 over the marketing and sale of the oil as a COVID-19 cure and protection.
Sentenced 6 Feb 2023: 12 months suspended for 24 months, 130 hours unpaid work, £60,072.50 costs.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal against conviction on 29 November 2023, finding it was 'not persuaded that the conviction was unsafe'.
Wiseman v Rex [2023] EWCA Crim 1363; Lady Chief Justice (Lady Carr), Goose and Foxton JJ.
The Charity Commission found 'no scientific basis' for the claim that the oil would cure or protect against COVID-19, and disqualified Wiseman as a charity trustee for 15 years.
Regulator finding, effective 19 June 2023; separate from the criminal proceedings.
The product was ordinary hyssop, cedarwood, and olive oil, sold with a card and scarlet yarn — no active ingredient or mechanism capable of preventing or curing a viral infection.
Southwark Trading Standards alerted 24 March 2020; a BBC investigation followed.
What would raise the meter: Adversarial scrutiny with real power to expose deception — hostile investigators, controlled conditions — coming back clean would raise the evidence bar.
What would lower it: A confession, an exposed method, or a documented financial motive would drive the evidence bar toward zero.
How this works
We keep two questions apart on purpose — so a thin record can’t make an impossible thing look proven, and a strong record can’t dress up an ordinary one as a miracle. First: Could nature explain it? (taking the account as true for the moment.) The question is whether nature could produce this at all — assuming, for the moment, the events are true as described. Second: is there real evidence it happened? A claim only stands out when both hold up — and we never call anything certain either way. How ratings work →
The natural explanation
The leading natural account for this case is deception: hoaxes, cold reading & stagecraft. Read what it explains — and where it stops.
Sources
Tagged by proximity to the event. Primary sources are direct or contemporaneous; tertiary are downstream retellings.
- 1.Primaryinvestigation
Appeal against conviction dismissed 29 Nov 2023; court 'not persuaded that the conviction was unsafe' (Lady Carr LCJ, Goose and Foxton JJ). Confirms 2022 fraud conviction and Feb 2023 sentence: 12 months suspended for 24 months, 130 hours unpaid work, £60,072.50 costs.
- 2.Primaryinvestigation
"Charity inquiry: The Kingdom Church GB", Charity Commission for England and Wales (gov.uk), 2024
Regulator found 'no scientific basis' for claims the oil would cure and protect against COVID-19; disqualified Wiseman as a charity trustee for 15 years, effective 19 June 2023.
- 3.Secondarynews
"Preacher convicted of fraud over bogus Covid cure loses appeal", The Irish News / PA Media, 2023
Reports the appeal dismissal and details the product (hyssop, cedarwood, olive oil; 'divine cleansing oil'/'plague protection oil'), the £91 price, and the kit (oil, card, scarlet yarn).
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