A clergyman has been given a new commandment by a judge: “Thou shalt NOT use a shotgun in the UK.”

Self-styled bishop Jean Gilson-Levi, from Folkestone, was stopped by Border Guards at Dover with an unlicensed single-barrelled semi-automatic weapon in his boot.

But he was saved from going to prison after a judge suspended the sentence.

The 52-year-old comedian-turned-clergyman claimed he used the weapon to shoot wild boar in his native Belgium and pigeons in England.

After appearing at Canterbury Crown Court two months ago he made a serious attempt on his life after being remanded in custody to await sentence, the court heard.

He has since recovered and returned to the dock to receive a dressing down from Judge Adele Williams.

She told Gilson-Levi, of Penfold Road, that a psychiatrist had concluded he had “an inflated opinion of his own importance”.

As she delivered her rebuke, the clergyman looked towards his wife in the public gallery.

The judge retorted: “And it’s no good looking up there! That just confirms my judgement that you are an arrogant man who will not listen!

“That led you into thinking that you knew better than everyone else, better than the police or the UK authorities.”

On the day he was arrested, he had also been stopped driving in Folkestone without a driving licence or insurance and was fined by magistrates.

Now he has been given a 20-month jail sentence suspended for two years, fined £1,000 and told to pay £500 costs.

Guy Wyatt, defending, asked for time to pay as land owned by Gilson-Levi’s family in Belgium had not been harvested because he was in custody.

The judge said the fines and costs had to be paid by December 31, confiscated the gun and ammunition and placed an indefinite ban on him possessing a firearm in the UK.

Gilson-Levi is a Belgian-born missionary and founder of the Restored Covenant Churches of God, a Pentecostal apostolic organisation.

He admitted two charges of illegally possessing the weapon and ammunition in August last year.

The judge also praised cell staff and paramedics at Canterbury who went to Gilson-Levi’s aid when he collapsed.

She added: “You had made a serious attempt to kill yourself in the cells at this court. You were saved by the extraordinary professional response by the cell staff and medical staff.”