Teenager thrown into canal

AN ENGINEER threw an apprentice into the 'Rochdale Nine' in Manchester when he refused to fetch him cigarettes at a works party at one of the Canal Street bars.

Jason McAndrew, named in Court as a bullying Jet2 engineer, called the teenager 'his bitch' when he refused to get him cigarettes, then dragged him to the railings bordering the waterway, dangled him over the water, then he threw him into the canal, Alan Tilbury tells us.

Hit his head

The victim hit his head before hitting the water and going under, but managed to crawl out, where he was helped.

The man admitted common assault and criminal damage, taunting the teenager and throwing him into the Rochdale Canal. When his employers were told, he was immediately sacked.

In fear of his life

Jason McAndrew's solicitor told Manchester Magistrates Court that it was 'a joke gone wrong', but his employers did not see it as such, which left the apprentice traumatised and embarrassed, as well as in fear of his life during the incident.

The outcome is that not only has the man lost his job, but was sentenced to 240 hours unpaid work and ordered to pay £700 compensation for the damage plus £1,000 for the complainant's ‘traumatic experience'.