Praise for Wirral man who tried to save brother's life (From Wirral Globe)

Praise for Wirral man who tried to save brother's life

4:06pm Thursday 12th January 2012 in News By Craig Manning

THE brother of a Wirral teenager who died after being electrocuted on a railway line has been praised for trying to save his life.

Dale Fleckner, aged 16, had been trying to fetch a football from the tracks between Rock Ferry and Green Lane stations on the afternoon of Sunday, July 3, last year when he came into contact with a live rail and was electrocuted.

His brother Paul, had tried to resuscitate him while waiting for paramedics to arrive.

Despite all efforts to save him, Dale died later at Arrowe Park Hospital.

An inquest at Wallasey Town Hall concluded he died as the result of misadventure.

Coroner's officer Arthur Flower told the inquiry that Dale and a friend had been playing football in an area known as the cage, which adjoins a 30-foot high wall leading to a railway line in Union Street, Birkenhead, earlier that afternoon.

The ball was kicked over into a nearby garden and Dale had gone to retrieve it. But in the meantime it had been deflated by dogs.

In a bid to find another ball, Dale decided to climb the cage fence and make his way up the wall onto the railway line, minutes before tragedy struck.

His body was discovered by the driver and guard of the 5.49pm Ellesmere Port to Liverpool train, who alerted the authorities.

The power was switched off and train guard David Hannan worked with Dale's brother, Paul, who is in his early 20s, as he tried to save his brother.

In a statement read by coroner's officer Arthur Flower, Mr Hannan said:“His brother did his best to keep Dale alive. His parents should be very proud of him.”

Dale, from Cobden Court in Birkenhead, was a student at Rock Ferry Academy and had just completed his GCSEs. He planned to study Sports Science at Wirral Metropolitan College. He had two brothers, two sisters and a step brother.

After delivering a verdict of death by misadventure Wirral coroner Christopher Johnson said: “It’s perfectly clear that Dale should not have been on the railway line. That is obvious. But he went there with the clear intention to find a football to continue his game.

“It would appear that, for whatever reason, he came in touch with the live rail and was electrocuted."