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Dangling from a 25,000 volt cable, is this the luckiest (or most stupid) man in Britain?
Last updated at 23:52pm on 20.11.06
Picture: Bare-chested and fuelled by drunken bravado, he dangles from a 25,000 volt power cable.
If he had tried his foolish stunt at any other time, Shane White would have been fried.
Fortunately for him, however, he had unwittingly picked a seven minute period when the power was turned off - the first in 15 months.
Oblivious to the danger, he leapt from a footbridge and, egged on by a gang of youths, hung from the railway cable for some time, eventually dropping to the ground only when his baseball cap blew off.
His prank was watched by astonished passengers on a stationary train, one of whom took this photo.
Opinion was divided over whether White was the luckiest man in Britain, or the most stupid. And the 22-year-old himself admitted:
"It was completely and utterly idiotic. I know I'm a fool for doing it."
White, unemployed, said he was so drunk on cider and beer that he had no memory of his actions until he saw the picture in a newspaper.
He handed himself in to police and was yesterday given a four-month suspended sentence and a curfew order for trespassing on railway property.
Outside court he said: "I remember walking through Asda and my missus saying, 'Who's that nutcase?', pointing at the paper. I realised it was me so I went straight to the police."
"When I found out the electricity had been cut off at that exact moment I couldn't believe it. I won't be doing this again, that's for sure."
Magistrates were told that power to the cables had been cut between 4.05pm and 4.12pm on August 14 after an unrelated incident further down the track. Trains had been brought to a standstill.
Sara Beddow, prosecuting, added: "A train had been brought to a stop one third of a mile short of Tamworth."
A passenger saw Mr White take hold of the overhead line. Had the electricity been on there is no doubt Shane White would have died."
John Mcgregor, defending, said: "Over the last 15 months power has never been off apart from the seven minutes when he was hanging on."
"He was depressed and drunk over the breakdown of a relationship at that particular time."
"He accepts it was a stupid and idiotic action but no trains were inconvenienced because they had already been stopped earlier."
