Threw barrier on Lynn track 'for a laugh'
A TEENAGER risked the safety of train travellers by throwing a road barrier over a Lynn rail bridge on to the track.
Eighteen-year-old Brian Forrest, of 60A London Road, Lynn, had denied the charge of endangering the safety of the line on September 3 last year, but was found guilty on Friday at Norwich Crown Court.
Earlier in the week, he had claimed that another youth had thrown the barrier.
But Recorder Guy Ayers told him: "You have been found guilty on the clearest evidence. Why you did not plead guilty I do not know."
Forrest has been given conditional bail while he waits for a pre-sentence report to be prepared and is due to hear his fate in four weeks' time.
The jury had heard from Elinor Webster who was driving along Hardwick Road, Lynn, at about 6.15pm when she saw two youths throw a plastic barrier over the bridge on to the track below.
She was travelling slowly in rush hour traffic and saw two youths holding the barrier when it went over.
"I often use trains myself and I was concerned someone might get hurt," she told the court.
She said that she had 'phoned her boyfriend so that trains might be stopped.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel Michael Proctor, Mrs Webster said her impression was that both youths were holding the barrier.
In a statement to police, Forrest had said that he only helped to carry the barrier short of the bridge and had not thrown it over.
He also said: "There was no intention of endangering life. It was just being dumped for a laugh."
Giving evidence in court, Forrest said he had tried to persuade the other youth not to throw the barrier and claimed "I tried to stop him."
It took the jury two hours to reach their verdict.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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