A teenager was "crucified" because of his Christian faith, a court has heard, as four men stand trial for religiously motivated bullying.

The boy, now 18, was allegedly the target of a sustained campaign of abuse between July 2014 and April 2015, according to The Telegraph. The incidents that happened around the UK included an attack with a lit aerosol, tying him to a "crucifix" and marking his face with crosses and other religious and phallic symbols.

In another attack, the victim was tied to a chair and had a dummy forced into his mouth. He was then marched outside and given a "wedgie" which left him with several cuts and bruises to his backside.

Andrew Addison, 30, Joseph Rose, 21, Christopher Jackson, 22, and Alex Puchir, 37, are on trial and are said to have dismissed the incidents as "banter".

In July 2014 the teen – who cannot be named for legal reasons – had begun an apprenticeship with a shopfitting firm managed by Addison, Direct Interior Solutions. Over the next nine months he travelled around the UK to work on shop refittings with the four men on trial.

Prosecutor Austin Newman told York Crown Court: "These counts cover what the prosecution contend was sustained bullying of a young man in the work place.

"From an early stage with this team he was subjected to acts of bullying that went beyond anything that could be described as banter or hi-jinx in the workplace."

Newman said the first incident occured when the five were working in London. The teenager was woken in the night by Rose "who was above him with a deodorant can in one hand and a cigarette lighter in another."

"He [Rose] discharged the spray that narrowly missed [the teenager's] head because he had the presence of mind to pull the duvet over his head," Newman said.

"Afterwards Joseph Rose was seen stamping out the smoke from the duvet."

Newman went on to describe several other incidents including one time the teen was allegedly forced onto a cross made of two pieces of plasterboard. He was tied down with duct tape and the cross was suspended a metre above the ground to resemble a crucifixion.

Addision has denied one count of putting a person in fear of violence by harassment, and two counts of racially aggravated assault by beating.

Rose, Jackson, and Puchir have denied one count of putting a person in fear of violence by harassment, and one count of racially aggravated assault by beating.

The trial continues.