'I'm scared of the backlash'

Nathan Worrell's victims tape up their letterbox every night and have had a panic alarm fitted in their family home.

Such is the height of fear suffered by Mohammed Chowdhery and Susan Crofts, who were the target of Worrell's racial hatred. They described themselves as "on the frontline" of the racial divide in their community.

After the sentencing at Grimsby Crown Court, Mr Chowdhery (28) said: "It is not long enough. He will be out in three or four years. He will probably come out and still hold the same racist beliefs. We have had enough. He is not going to get the same backlash. He will do his time in prison and then come out, but we will have to put up with this for longer.

"My wife has to go to the shops and pass his house. It has affected her a lot, but our role is to protect our daughter, that's all that is important."

He said a number of friends and people in his community questioned why he went through with the allegations against Worrell. And he expressed his fears of reprisals among the associates of Worrell's racist groups.

Mr Chowdhery said: "If he had bomb-making materials in his home that is up to him, and to support the Ku Klux Klan is his business."

Mr Chowdhery was pessimistic about the action which needs to be taken to stamp out racism in North East Lincolnshire.

He said: "It is never going to stop. I am a Muslim. I have lived and worked in this country all my life, as did my father. We work hard. But a lot of people have this hatred and go on about it behind closed doors. You never know what is in their hearts."

He urged parents to take a greater role in preventing racist beliefs being nurtured in young people.

Mr Chowdhery said: "My main thing is to protect my daughter. I have lived with racism all my life, but I want to look after my daughter and protect her and my family from it."

He said in the 14 years in which he had lived and worked in Grimsby, he had seen a change in attitude towards foreigners.

He said: "Society has changed. I understand the problems, but I am scared more of the backlash."

This is Grimsby