Mal Hussain, who owns a grocery shop in Lancaster with his partner Linda Livingstone, has been the victim of more than 2,000 attacks including shootings, stonings, fire bombings and death threats.

He claimed Lancashire Police failed to respond to his complaints.

Shortcomings identified

After a review Chief Superintendent John Thompson said: "A number of shortcomings were identified and I have apologised for these on behalf of Lancashire Constabulary."

Mr Hussain has received a written apology from the Deputy Chief Constable.

He met Mr Hussain to discuss the review, during police examined closely how they had responded to the shopkeeper's calls.

"At our meeting, I outlined a course of action for the future which we feel will help us to build on our partnerships with the local authority; with local schools and with community leaders to ensure we continue to develop our longer-term operational strategy to help Mr Hussain and to police the area around his home on the Ryelands Estate," said Mr Thompson.

Convictions

He said it was clear that in the early 90s, when the couple first bought the shop, that the police involved did not meet "the constabulary's high standards or those of Mr Hussain for dealing with those kind of incidents".

He said he was pleased to see there had been a marked decrease in the number of incidents, and police had secured a number of convictions.