US elected official jailed for refusing to issue marriage licences to gay couples

An official in the US has been jailed after repeatedly refusing to issue marriage licences to gay couples.

Kim Davis, a county clerk in Kentucky, has cited her Christian beliefs as justification for turning couples away again and again.

But on Thursday the elected official was sent to jail after being held in contempt of court by a US judge.

After she was jailed, hundreds of pro-equality activists outside the courthouse started chanting and screaming "Love won! Love won!"

District Judge David Bunning also ordered all five of her deputy clerks to issue licences to all applicants and warned they also face fines or jail if they refuse to comply.

During the hearing, Davis had told the judge: “God's moral law conflicts with my job duties.

"You can't be separated from something that's in your heart and in your soul."

She also said: "I promised to love Him with all my heart, mind and soul because I wanted to make heaven my home."

The judge said she left him with no alternative but to jail her, since fines alone would not change her mind.

She was led away from the court room in tears and handed into custody.