FIVE people were cleared by a jury of being involved in the destruction of a salad bar.

Ann Harrison, her daughter Joanne Sedgewick, her partner Michael Hunter, and two others, Nigel Clephan and Darren Williamson, were acquitted of all charges.

The case centred around a dispute between two food shops next door to each other in Market Street, Hindley.

Owner of Al Capone's takeaway, Sartip Hameed, claimed that Ann Harrison, who owns The Lunch Box sandwich shop next door, had racially abused him for years.

But Harrison claimed that Al Capone's had opened at lunchtimes for a period against the rules of the lease. She also said she had been racially abused by Hameed and his staff.

The bad feeling came to a head when Hameed complained to police after Harrison was said to have abused his Kurdish staff.

Returning from the police station, Hameed saw a gang of men had caused trouble inside his shop. He had alleged they were accompanied by Harrison and her daughter. Workers at the takeaway claimed that a gang had stormed into the shop and destroyed a salad bar.

But Harrison and her daughter both maintained that, on the day of the "salad-tossing" incident, Hameed had entered their shop in a furious mood and spat at them and on their pies.

They said they had not been involved in any attack on the salad bar and had decided to complain to the police themselves about Hameed.

Harrison, aged 55, of Prestbury Avenue, Maris Bridge, Wigan, and 34 year-old Sedgewick and her partner Michael Hunter, aged 32, both of Morville Drive, Worsley Mesnes, stood trial at Bolton Crown Court.

Also in the dock with them were Nigel Clephan, aged 38, of Spring View and Darren Williamson, aged 30, of Charterhouse Road, both Wigan. All five stood trial on a variety of charges.

The jury returned not guilty verdicts on all the charges after deliberating for 75 minutes. The defendants were granted cost orders from central funds.