A Brampton teenager who climbed on to a school roof to show off to his friends, was lucky to escape with his life when he fell 35 feet on to another roof, Huntingdonshire magistrates heard. John Goodier, prosecuting, said Bradley Panther, 18, of Ash Court

A Brampton teenager who climbed on to a school roof to show off to his friends, was lucky to escape with his life when he fell 35 feet on to another roof, Huntingdonshire magistrates heard.

John Goodier, prosecuting, said Bradley Panther, 18, of Ash Court, had been drinking with friends in the Black Bull public house.

He was walking home past Brampton Junior School when he decided it would be fun to climb on to the flat roof.

"When he was on the roof, he realised he had forgotten how to get down," said Mr Gooding.

"He got hold of the lightning conductor, overbalanced, and fell 35 feet on to a flat asbestos roof, causing damage to the roof and some tiles."

To compound this, the emergency services had to use a bolt-cropper on a padlock from the adjacent infant school to reach him.

The total damage was £2,718.

Panther admitted criminal damage and causing a nuisance or disturbance at a school.

Kerry Richardson, defending, said her client could not remember how he had got on to the roof, and could not find a way down.

During his six-day spell in Hinchingbrooke Hospital, staff had told him he was extremely lucky not to have killed himself or done serious damage, she added.

She said Panther, a kitchen porter had gone voluntarily to the school when he came out of hospital, and had apologised to the headteacher.

"He is extremely sorry for causing the damage," she added.

Sentencing him to a 12-month conditional discharge, magistrates' chairman Derek Rutherford told him: "Your night out has cost you dearly, and could have cost your life.

"But you have shown remorse."

Panther was ordered to pay £2,700 compensation to the junior school, and £18 to the infant school.