He lost his friend when a 'giggle' on train tracks turned to tragedy - then ended up in court

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A man whose friend lost his life dragging him to safety from a railway track was today cleared of his manslaughter. Patrick Kennedy, 49, sat down between the rails near Prestatyn Station in North Wales 'for a giggle', a court heard, but his friend Keith Ford, 40, pulled him clear seconds before Mr Ford was struck and killed by a train bound for Holyhead.

Both Mr Kennedy, from Cheetham Hill, Manchester, and Mr Ford, from Urmston, Trafford, had been drinking, a court was told. Mr Kennedy was cleared at Mold Crown Court in Wales on Friday of the manslaughter of Mr Ford and another charge of endangering the safety of people on a railway. READ MORE: The corrupt drug dealing detective who dropped a bag of cocaine outside his daughter's primary school A jury of six men and six women had been hearing evidence in the trial which began on Monday.

The trial judge, Mr Justice Matthew Nicklin, directed them to find Mr Kennedy not guilty. Mr Justice Nicklin said Mr Ford committed a 'no doubt courageous and selfless act' in saving his friend, and he did so 'of his own free will'.

Both men, who had arrived at nearby Greenacres and Sunny Sands caravan park on Shore Road, Prestatyn, hours earlier, had been drinking before the incident on July 13, 2022, reports North Wales Live.