A MAN has appeared in court charged with helping his two cousins carry out an arson attack on a Grimsby mosque.
A jury heard that Daniel Cressey, 24, is accused of making a 40-mile round trip to drive the other men to the mosque on Weelsby Road on May 26 so they could carry out the petrol bomb attack.
Cressey, of Manchester Square, New Holland, denies a charge of aiding and abetting Stuart Harness and Gavin Humphries.
Harness and Humphries, both of Dixon Avenue, Grimsby, have pleaded guilty to arson reckless as to whether life was endangered.
On the first day of his trial at Grimsby Crown Court yesterday, Jeremy Evans, prosecuting, said: "He drove them to the scene where the arson attack was carried out.
"He took both males armed with four homemade petrol bombs to the scene so they could remain undetected.
"The Crown state it was a deliberate act and he would have realised what he was doing was wrong and he intended to assist both males."
He added: "This was a team effort."
Mr Evans told the court that Cressey had driven to the home of Harness in Grimsby to pick the two men up in what he described as a "well thought out and planned attack of the mosque".
He said:"Why make a round trip of 40 miles that could have been avoided?
"He could not have missed the fact there were homemade petrol bombs being constructed in the property."
Mr Evans said that when interviewed by police, Cressey's story began to "unravel" and he began to change his mind.
"He said he found out about this arson attack from a family member."
Questioning why Cressey did not chose to inform the police that he was at the scene of the attack, Mr Evans said: "This defendant chose to bury his head in the sand and wait for that dreaded knock on the door to come."
The trial continues.
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