The BBC report that four men have gone on trial accused of religiously aggravated assault on a Christian teenage work colleague which included tying him to a wooden cross in a mock crucifixion.  The four men allegedly carried out a sustained course of victimisation and bullying against a teenage apprentice (who cannot be named for legal reasons) who is a practising Roman Catholic, which the Crown say went beyond anything that could reasonably be described as banter or high jinx in the workplace. They are said to have allegedly: tied the teenager to a wooden cross and hanging him from a wall in a way which resembled a crucifixion; using a permanent marker to draw crosses and penises across a large proportion of his body and face while he was asleep; spraying deodorant towards his head and lighting it while he was asleep in bed; and, pulling him off the ground by his underpants – a ‘wedgie’ – leaving him with cuts and bruises to his buttocks. The defendants deny the respective charges of putting a person in fear of violence by harassment and racially aggravated assault by beating.

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