JAMES Byrne has a gift. He can communicate with the spirits of the dead. For many years his gift made him very well known. At the height of his fame he gave public demonstrations at the London Palladium, and appeared on television and radio.

Then, five years ago, he began to question what he was doing. Not his talents, but the purpose for which he was using them.

"I became disillusioned with the whole thing for a while," he said.

Instead, he felt drawn to Christianity and to healing.

And so he set up his own church, Kings Christian Church, and proclaimed that he was renouncing the Spiritualist movement, although not his psychic gifts or his belief in the hereafter.

He found shaking off his reputation as a medium, however, impossible, and he blames this for the failure of the church.

"I was very well known as a medium. I think that confused people. The church was badly attended.

"It wasn't anything to do with not having publicity, it's just that the publicity focused on me being a medium.

"I have always done spiritual healing since the 1970s. The position you have to take is one of honesty. When I was doing stage presentations there was a time when I did feel under pressure - you are conscious people have paid money to see you. But, coupled with experience, you do learn how to handle that. There is a bit of apprehension."

Now the 52-year-old, from Widnes, is returning to what he says he does best - giving stage demonstrations of his powerful psychic abilities.

But, despite the claims of amateur websites to the contrary, he hasn't changed his belief in the survival of consciousness after death and in God. And he says his psychic gifts and the ability to channel spirit remain undimmed.

"While I was running the church, I was getting offers of work as a psychic. I had a long think about it."

James says he has never made a lot of money from his demonstrations. But he compares the money he does earn with that of a vicar's salary.

He first became involved with Spiritualism when he was 15. It was shortly after the death of his father, a heavy drinking, violent man.

One day a complete stranger at a bus stop told James she could see the spirit of his father. The woman described the dead man exactly, even down to his strong Irish accent, which was uncommon in Bolton, where James grew up.

"She told me my father was saying sorry. She also said I had the same gift as her and as the years went on it would develop," he said.

This prophecy was fulfilled sooner than James expected. A close friend was killed in a road accident and, shortly afterwards, he heard a voice claiming to be his friend, urging him to reassure his family that he was okay.

The voice told him that James would be told about two children by the family's mother.

Understandably, James felt awkward: "I thought, there's no way I can tell this lady what I've been told. She will hit me around the earhole."

He bumped into his friend's mother soon afterwards. She told James she had fostered two children.

"That knocked me over," said James, who passed on the spirit message.

"She accepted it."

He says his gifts have never harmed him or anyone else, but he has had some bad experiences.

"I was at a house in Wigan doing some readings and recorded them. At the end of the last one, this woman said there was a voice on the tape that was not my voice.

"It was a new tape, which couldn't have been tampered with. This voice, she said, was the most vile-mouthed, threatening thing she had heard. She played it for me. That was one of the things that made me question things, as well.

"It hasn't happened since then. I have never experienced anything like it.

"It didn't worry me, only about the effects on this lady, but fortunately, I had known her for a number of years. She knew I was an honest, decent person."

He looks back at the past few years, the change in direction, and the return to public appearances, as all part of his spiritual journey.

"Maybe it was time for me to step out of it for some time. But there was a feeling inside me that this was what I'm good at.

"I never said I don't believe. I am still hearing things and seeing things."

n For details of when and where to see James Byrne, visit his website, jamesthepsychic.co.uk