A MAN has been convicted of racially abusing a Muslim pharmacist who refused to supply his partner with the morning-after pill.

Mohammed Parvez said his decision was based on moral and ethical grounds and made under guidelines set by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Unemployed Chris Mellett, 29, of Sale, looked shaken when he was found guilty at the end of an adjourned trial at Tameside magistrates' court.

He was fined £175, ordered to pay £160 towards costs and the £15 victim surcharge.

He had gone to the pharmacy at Sainsbury's, Ashton under Lyne, with his partner, her 17-year-old son and five-year-old daughter to get the pill and buy Sunday lunch in May.

Alternative arrangements were made for Mellett to pick up the morning-after pill from another chemist in Denton but he directed a torrent of abuse towards Mr Parvez.

He told the Manchester-born pharmacist, who is of Asian origin to `shut your mouth you black b*****d'.

Mellett then went to complain to duty manager David Lawrence and told him: `If I was in his country, I would kneel on a mat and bow east.

"In this country, he should obey our rules'.

Mr Lawrence had earlier told the hearing Mellett made other offensive comments and that he considered him the most racist customer he had dealt with in 20 years.

Mellett was arrested at his then home in Droylsden by CID officers nearly two weeks after the incident, which received widespread publicity.

He was later charged with a racially-aggravated public order offence, which he denied.

Mellett said he was bewildered by the pharmacist's decision, he never called him black and did not use any other racist language. His former partner, Miss Walsh, said she saw Mellett after he had spoken to the pharmacist and he appeared calm.

She said: "When he said what had happened, I just said `I can't believe it'.

"I said OK, let's go and get the chicken, which was for Sunday dinner."

She got the pill the following day from another pharmacist.

Chairman of the magistrates Nina Lees said: "All the words used by Mr Mellett were born out of Mr Mellett being refused the morning-after pill for his partner. Those words caused alarm and distress."