A MERSEYRAIL guard has been jailed after being found guilty of causing the death of a 16-year old girl.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that the girl was drunk and also under the influence of a drug, when she leaned against a train which then started to depart. She died after falling alongside and underneath it.

Christopher McGee, 45, admitted that he had seen the girl but had thought she was moving away from the train when he gave the signal for it to depart from Liverpool James Street station about half an hour before midnight on 22 October last year.

McGee, of Wallasey on the Wirral, had denied manslaughter but the jury unanimously found him guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence,

Mr Justice Holroyde said McGee had taken a 'terrible risk'. Earlier, prosecuting counsel had told the jury that McGee should have been able to see that the girl was in an 'intoxicated state'.

CCTV records produced in evidence showed the girl getting off the train, before turning around as she realised her friends were still on board.

The train moved only nine metres, but in that time she had fallen between it and the platform. Blood analysis showed she had 236mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, as well as the drug mephedrone.

Passing sentence on 14 November, the judge told McGee: "Georgia's life was ended in a dreadful way at the age of just 16 by your gross negligence. You did not intend to kill or even injure her, but you displayed an appalling disregard for her safety, and she paid for your criminal negligence with her life."

He added that McGee had almost two decades of 'service and training', having joined Merseyrail in 1992, and that such experience was an aggravating factor.

"You must have known that a passenger who falls between the train and the platform is likely to be killed," he said. "As the guard, you were in complete control of the train."