WORKMATES who were convicted of assaulting and harassing a young apprentice have been handed unpaid work orders and told to pay their victim hundreds in compensation.

Andrew Addison, 31, and Joseph Richard Rose, 21, were yesterday sentenced at York Crown Court, after a trial which saw them accused of drawing penises all over their victim and giving a wedgie so severe it left him cut and bruised.

Addison, of Westbourne Road, Selby, had been found guilty of assaulting the apprentice at the shop fitting firm he managed; while Rose, of Main Street, Bubwith, was convicted of harassing the young man.

Both had been found not guilty of religiously aggravated assault, along with two of their colleagues.

Yesterday the Recorder of York Judge Paul Batty gave Addison 240 hours of unpaid work and told him to pay £1000 in compensation along with £500 towards the prosecution costs.

He said that as manager in charge of both Rose and the apprentice, Addison was in a position of responsibility and was therefore more culpable, while the young victim was particularly vulnerable.

The judge added: “The common assault was the final act in a whole series of incidents perpetrated on your hapless victim, many of which you were present for and did not lift a finger to stop.”

Addison assaulted the victim by giving him a “wedgie”, Judge Batty added, something designed to humiliate him and cause him pain and distress.

He went on to say it was “particularly chilling” that Addison wrote on social media “Selby is a small place”, something the judge said was designed to deter him from taking his complaints further than Addison’s immediate boss.

At the same hearing, twenty-one year old Joseph Rose was sentenced to 150 hours of unpaid work, and ordered to pay £750 in compensation along with £500 towards prosecution costs.

Judge Batty said he too had been in a position of responsibility over the younger man.

“On two occasions when you had been drinking you bullied this young apprentice in a most appalling way.

“His crime seemed to be that he did not want to be ‘one of the lads’. He didn’t go out drinking with you, he was quiet and reserved and seen as an easy target.”

The court heard Rose had terrified the young man with a “mini flame thrower” made by setting fire to an aerosol, and on the second occasion had gone into the youngster’s hotel room and covered him “from head to toe” with “foul graffiti” including penises and obscene words, and even crosses.

The writing was in indelible ink, meaning it took days to wash off.

The judge said he had read references which showed both Addison and Rose were hard-working men with responsibilities, and neither of their offences warranted a prison sentence.