A hunk of raw bacon was thrown at a shop worker in what police believe was a racially-motivated attack.

The incident happened at the Pemberton Service Station on Ormskirk Road, Pemberton, at about 4.30am on Monday. The Asian attendant was working alone in the station when the door opened and the offender threw the slice of raw bacon. He then ran out of the shop and up Ormskirk Road towards Orrell.

The attacker was white, about 5ft 8 of a medium build and with short, dark hair. He was wearing a bright-green and black-chequered snood covering the lower part of his face and head, a black jacket with two white stripes down each arm and a white line under the arms. He was also wearing baggy light-blue jeans and dark trainers with white laces and a white rim around the bottom.

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A 25-year-old man has been found guilty of helping two former soldiers fire-bomb a mosque in Grimsby as a reprisal for the killing of soldier Lee Rigby.

Stuart Harness, 34, and Gavin Humphries, 37, have already admitted throwing four petrol bombs at the Grimsby Islamic Cultural Centre four days after the murder of Fusilier Rigby outside Woolwich Barracks in south east London in May. The pair were caught on CCTV making the bombs and then throwing them at the mosque doors as terrified worshippers were trapped inside.

Daniel Cressey was found guilty on Thursday by a jury at Grimsby Crown Court of aiding and abetting Harness and Humphries. Cressey drove his friends the short distance from Harness’s home in Dixon Avenue in the town to the mosque but did not take part in the arson attack. All three men will be sentenced at Hull Crown Court on December 20.

Judge Mark Bury remanded Cressey, of New Holland, North Lincolnshire, in custody and told him a prison sentence was inevitable. Harness and Humphries, both of Dixon Avenue, Grimsby, are also in custody.

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Two former soldiers who fire-bombed a mosque in response to the murder of soldier Lee Rigby were caught on CCTV preparing petrol bombs and throwing them at the building, a jury has heard.

Grimsby Crown Court was shown footage of Stuart Harness, 33, and Gavin Humphries, 37, each carrying two home-made petrol bombs from Harness’s home in the town. More cameras caught them later, launching the bombs at the doors of the Grimsby Islamic Cultural Centre, four days after Fusilier Rigby was killed outside Woolwich Barracks, in London, in May.

A jury of eight women and four men heard how a number of worshippers were inside the mosque when the attack took place on May 26. They managed to extinguish the fire and Harness and Humphries were soon arrested as they were witnessed attacking the building by passing police community support officers, the court was told. Both men have pleaded guilty to the arson attack, the jury heard.

Excerpts of CCTV footage from the mosque and Harness’s home on Dixon Avenue were shown to the jury on the first day of the trial of a third man, Daniel Cressey, 24, of New Holland, North Lincolnshire. Cressey, who is Harness’s cousin, is accused of driving the two other men to the mosque. He denies one charge of aiding and abetting arson, being reckless as the whether life was endangered.

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