A YOUNG Bolton father was crushed under the wheels of a freight train when a drunken prank went tragically wrong.

Trevor Hall, who had been drinking and taking the drug Ecstasy, was fooling around on the edge of a railway platform when he was suddenly pushed in the back as a joke, a court heard.

Mr Hall, of Firwood Grove, Tonge Moor, fell under one of the train's wagons, ending up between the train and the platform.

He was killed instantly.

Liam Charles, the youth who pushed him -- said to have a reputation among his friends as the "joker in the pack" -- was jailed for three years at Manchester Crown Court after he admitted Mr Hall's manslaughter.

Charles, aged 19, of Shakespeare Drive, Droylsden, Manchester, was told by Mr Justice Grigson ''I accept you feel genuine remorse, but your actions that morning were unbelievably reckless.

"Mr Hall may have been drunk, he may have taken drugs, but he presented no danger to anyone but himself.

"Your actions turned his foolishness into tragedy, a tragedy which has had a devastating effect on his family.

"No sentence I can pass can begin to repair that devastation. But it was an act done without malice or, most importantly, an intention to kill or cause serious bodily harm."

Richard Marks QC, prosecuting, said Mr Hall, a music fan and former DJ, was on his way home from visiting his girlfriend and was waiting for a train on Piccadilly Station's platform 14.

"He was clearly in a boisterous mood and was under the influence of drink and drugs and approached the defendant, who had a can of beer in his hand, and asked for a drink."

Mr Marks said that, according to witnesses, Mr Hall also had some cannabis and was asking for cigarette papers, but then, as the freight train approached, he began fooling around and stood on the platform edge and was leaning out with his arm outstretched.

Charles, a human resources manager, who was at the station with friends waiting to catch a train to Blackpool, suddenly pushed him in the back.

Charles left the station, but two days later after a police appeal for information, he gave himself up.

He claimed Mr Hall was "dancing about" as the train approached and eventually admitted he made a drunken lunge at him from behind.

Charles told the court: "The reason was maybe to join in the larking about, I don't know.

"I thought the train was going faster than normal. I knew it was a danger to do a prank like that, but I had no idea how close Trev was to the platform."

Michael Shorrock QC, defending, said it was "a terrible, misguided prank when he tried to make a joke out of a situation where the deceased was behaving in a bizarre and dangerous manner".

Charles, he said, had no deliberate intention to hurt Mr Hall. "He is not an evil young man and is described as a gentle, law-abiding citizen who is shocked about what he has done."

Mr Shorrock added: "It was a single, reckless, stupid act carried out in a situation fraught with danger."