Manzoor Ahmed 'Killed for Packet of Crisps '. Accused walk free

A Two young men and teenage women were all acquitted of killing an Asian pensioner Manzoor in a racist attack over bags of crisps at a grocery store.

One of the accused Demi Dearie, 19, was convicted of assaulting Ahmed, 67, moments before he suffered a fatal heart attack at the Super Asia shop in Glasgow last year.

The two men had been accused of committing culpable homicide by punching Mr Ahmed in the face and pushing him to the ground during a row outside the Pollokshaws Road store.

The pensioner died in hospital seven days after the incident, when his family made the decision to turn off his life support machine. The pair were yesterday acquitted of most of the charges against them and were released from custody.

This latest acquittal will not fill BME communities with confidence that Scotland is taking race hate crimes seriously. In the last few years race hate incidents have risen by more than 20%

According to figures released in 2010, race hate victims were most likely to be of Pakistani origin,

The majority of victims - 76% - were men and the vast majority of race hate perpetrators – 96% - were classed as white British. Of these, most were men aged 16-20, followed by men under the age of 16.

Simon Woolley