A YOB who put dozens of lives in danger when he hurled a bike on to train tracks causing an explosion has been warned he is facing jail.

Kenny Thornton yesterday pleaded guilty to endangering safety on the railway as well as destroying the bike.

As reported in the Daily Echo, CCTV images revealed how Thornton’s moment of madness sent sparks flying from the live rail, causing the lights of the station to go out and a cloud of black smoke to fill the platform.

The 24-year-old handed himself in to police the next day after seeing the report in the Echo.

Prosecuting, Eleanor Fargin told Southampton Crown Court how CCTV footage clearly showed the moment Thornton pushes the bike on to the railway tracks.

The film from January 7 revealed three youths on a station bench smoking and drinking cans of alcohol when they arrived at Woolston station at 5.30pm. Thornton is then later seen to grab a bike, approach the yellow line on the platform and throw it on to the rail.

Two minutes later a non-stop train heading towards Southampton came hurtling through the station at speeds up to 50mph and sparks fly under the passenger train as it runs over the bike.

Video footage shows the defendant cower as the explosion erupts before he runs away.

David Jenkins, in mitigation, told how Thornton, of Tatwin Crescent, Thornhill, Southampton, had been drinking “a cocktail of beer, cider and other matters” all day. He added: “There isn’t a day that goes by when he does not drink. I don’t know if he has drunk this morning but it would not surprise me if he had.”

In mitigation he said the plea was based on recklessness adding that Thornton did not intend to endanger safety by pushing the bike.

Ordering a pre-sentence report Judge Gary Burrell QC warned: “You must realise that this offence is extremely serious and you are potentially looking at an immediate term of custody.”