Race claim lawyer 'not credible'

Mr Anwar claimed he and his wife were racially abused

A high-profile lawyer has been called "not credible" by a sheriff who cleared a woman of racially abusing him.

Aamar Anwar and his wife Ifet claimed office manager Lorraine Ferrie made a racist comment to them following a car accident in Glasgow in August 2006.

However, during a trial at the city's sheriff court, Sheriff Charlotte Coutts acquitted the 36-year-old.

"There were certain aspects in which the Crown witnesses Mr and Mrs Anwar were not credible," she ruled.

The court heard how Mrs Anwar bumped into Ferrie's Corsa car on Glasgow's Wallace Street, before Mr Anwar arrived and was seen chatting to an Asian woman near the scene.

Miss Ferrie, concerned he was attempting to prepare a witness before police arrived on the scene, said: "What is this? All Pakistanis sticking together?"

She said Mr Aamar, a well-known human rights lawyer, replied: "Yes, just like all you white people."

Mrs Anwar, a commercial property solicitor, claimed she saw Miss Ferrie giving her the V-sign and locked her car door because she was "scared".

Acquitting her of a racially aggravated breach of the peace, Sheriff Coutts said: "I find Miss Ferrie a reliable witness and, where her story was not consistent to that given by the Anwars, I preferred her evidence."