Race abuse victim feels 'ashamed'

McDermott, Skett and Melaney were jailed for three years for the abuse

A Muslim road worker who was tied to railings and force-fed bacon by his colleagues said he feels "ashamed" by what had happened to him.

Three men from Birmingham who Amjid Mehmood worked with were each jailed for three years last week for their part in the abuse.

A rucksack with protruding wires, made to look like a bomb, was put in Mr Mehmood's locker.

Mr Mehmood urged anyone else being bullied to contact the authorities.

The nine-month campaign of abuse from autumn 2005 to summer 2006 came to light when Mr Mehmood told police.

Every single day of the week it felt when I was at work that something was going to happen to me Amjid Mehmood

Lee McDermott, 31, from Blue Stone Walk; Sean Melaney, 28, of Steatham Grove, Kingstanding, and Phillip Skett, 39, of College Road, Erdington, were each jailed for three years at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Other incidents included the group removing Mr Mehmood's trousers and exposing him to passing motorists while they worked on the M6 motorway in Cannock, Staffordshire, the court heard at the time.

His trousers were also been set on fire while he was wearing them.

Mr Mehmood said: "I was ashamed of what had happened to me."

He added: "Every single day of the week it felt when I was at work that something was going to happen to me.

"I don't really want to go into it. It's still hard."

'Extreme circumstances'

In a separate incident in 2005, the group drove to the Lozells in Birmingham as riots raged between the Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities.

They then abandoned him in an area dominated by Afro-Caribbean people.

Mr Mehmood said: "It's hard for my family and also myself as well.

"I think that justice has been served and I'm very grateful to the authorities for their assistance."

All the men worked for road maintenance company Amey Mouchel at a depot in Bescot, Walsall.

The firm said that after disciplinary action, McDermott, Melaney and Skett left the company.

Det Con Mark Simmons, of West Midlands Police, said: "In my view this was a very serious racial crime and the actual circumstances of the abuse were extreme by any measure.

"I think that three years was a just sentence."