Four colleagues accused of taking part in the mock crucifixion of a teenage Catholic apprentice have been cleared of faith crimes by a jury, reports the BBC.
Andrew Addison, 30, Joseph Rose, 21, Christopher Jackson, 22, and Alex Puchir, 37, were found not guilty of religiously aggravated assault after a trial at York Crown Court.
It was alleged the men had tied the teenager to a wooden cross and suspended it above the ground.
But Addison, from Selby, was found guilty of assault by beating, and Rose, of Bubwith, East Yorkshire, was found guilty of putting a person in fear of violence by harassment. Addison was cleared of putting a person in fear of violence by harassment.
Judge Paul Batty said: "You have been convicted of a very unpleasant offence. Each of you should have known better."
York Crown Court was told earlier in the trial that between July 2014 and April 2015 the victim, whose identity is being protected by the court, was subjected to “a sustained course of victimisation and bullying in the workplace”.
The teenage victim was an apprentice with Direct Interior Solutions, of Selby, North Yorkshire, and worked with a team of shopfitters that travelled around.
Rose and Addison were bailed until sentencing next month. Jackson, from Barlby, North Yorkshire, and Puchir, from Edinburgh, were cleared of any wrongdoing.
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