A  Nigerian woman preacher and “witches and wizard exorcist,” Helen Ukpabio, who has been prevented by the Home Office from entering Britain is attempting to silence her critics with the threat of a £500 million lawsuit.

But a statement by the British chief executive of British Humanists Association (BHA), Andrew Copson, stated, “the fact that she is threatening to launch a legal claim for half a billion pounds over an alleged distinction between being accused of exorcising “Satan” or “Vampires” tells you all you need to know about Ms Ukpabio.”

Helen Ukpabio, a born-again Christian preacher from Nigeria who heads up the controversial Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries, is known for “deliverance sessions” to free children and adults from being possessed.

Among her advice to parents is the warning that children under two years old who cry in the night with a fever may be “possessed with black, red and vampire witchcraft spirits”.

The preacher, who calls herself “Lady Apostle”, is threatening to sue a number of organisations, including the British Humanist Association (BHA) and the Witchcraft and Human Rights Information Network (WHRIN), for half a billion pounds in total.

She is accusing them of defamation, in part due to a difference in wording. Campaigners have criticised Mrs Ukpabio, who in her book, Unveiling the Mysteries of Witchcraft, wrote, “a child under two years of age that cries at night and deteriorates in health is an agent of Satan”.

But according to her solicitors, her actual words describe how such children can be possessed by “vampire witchcraft spirits” with signs of these being a child who “screams at night, cries, is always feverish, suddenly deteriorates in health, puts up an attitude of fear, and may not feed very well”.

He added: “Given her baseless identification of features of “possessed children” and her dangerous and irresponsible teachings we feel a strong moral duty to point this out and will not be deflected by libel suits from wealthy “witch-finders”.

In a letter sent to the BHA’s lawyers last Thursday, solicitors acting for the controversial preacher accused the charity of causing “members of the public to regard our client as an evil woman” with the damage to her reputation resulting in a “huge loss of incomes to her churches”. The letter, from London-based Graceland Solicitors, claims Mrs Ukpadio is “a Christian leader of international repute known and respected in many countries of the world”.