Man convicted of trespassing on railway around same time a pallet was thrown at a train (From The Advertiser Series)

Ferryhill man convicted of trespassing on railway around same time a pallet was thrown at a train

2:25pm Monday 18th March 2013 in News By Duncan Leatherdale

A MAN has been convicted of trespassing on a railway at around the same time a main-line train was damaged by a pallet thrown from a bridge.

However, there is no evidence to say who threw the pallet off Station Bridge at Ferryhill on August 25 last year, Newton AYcliffe magistrates heard.

But they did find Christopher James Brass guilty, 21, of trespassing on that stretch of railway at around the time it was thrown.

Brass, of Grasmere Road, Ferryhill, failed to appear at court and the case was proved in his absence.

Prosecutor Claire Brinton said police were responding to the call made after the CrossCountry Aberdeen to Penzance train was damaged when they found Brass and three youths 200m away from Station Bridge.

The four were carrying fishing equipment and claimed they had been fishing.

After speaking to the officers, they were allowed to continue, but Brass was questioned a few days later when he admitted that they had crossed the track, the court heard.

In interbiew, he said: “We all crossed over the bridge and broken fence so yeah, we were all trespassing.”

The court heard the 21-year-old has a lengthy record and magistrates adjourned the case until April 2 for sentencing.

A spokesperson for British Transport Police said afterwards: "The railway is an inherently dangerous environment, with high speed trains and electric currents, and it should never be treated as somewhere to hang about.”