Scottish Pair Jailed For Desecrating Edinburgh Mosque With Bacon

A Scottish pair have been jailed for desecrating an Edinburgh Mosque by throwing bacon through its front door and covering the door handles with strips of the meat.

Douglas Cruikshank and Chelsea Lambie hung bacon in the worshipping area of the Mosque in January 2013, in what one Muslim witness described as a "very disturbing" attack.

An earlier trial heard text messages sent by Lambie, 18, which said: "Going to invade a mosque, because we can go where we want." Another read: "Went to the mosque in Edinburgh and wrapped bacon round the door handles, opened the door and threw it in ha ha ha."

Cruikshank, 39, pleaded guilty, while Lambie was found guilty after denying behaving in a threatening or abusive manner likely to cause fear and alarm.

Security guard Usman Mahmood said the attack was designed to cause as much offence as possible to Muslims: "I was surprised if a person did it for a joke. It is against our culture and religion.

"We do not eat pork or even touch it. I felt very bad seeing this meat in my sacred place.

"It hurt my feelings when I saw this meat hanging inside the mosque in the worshipping area. It was very disturbing," the BBC reported.

Cruikshank, who changed his plea to guilty after racial aggravation was dropped from the indictment, was sentenced to nine months in prison while Lambie will spend 12 months in an institution for young offenders.

Wayne Stilwel from Gorebridge, who was also involved in the attack, pleaded guilty in August 2013 to a religiously aggravated attack on the mosque and was sentenced to 10 months.