A 14-year-old boy has been acquitted of pushing an eight-year-old on to railway lines in Birmingham.

He was found not guilty of two charges of doing an unlawful act with intent to endanger a person on the railway. A jury at Birmingham Crown Court deliberated for half-an-hour before reaching their verdicts.

Before leaving court the teenager was told by Judge Frank Chapman QC: "What you did that day was very silly. Just be a bit more careful in the future, particularly when you have the youngsters with you."

It had been alleged that the 14-year-old, from Small Heath, who had been in charge of the eight-year-old and his nine-year-old sister, had initially pushed the boy into a busy road and towards a canal. Neil Williams, prosecuting, said he had then taken the boy up a railway embankment in Bordesley and shoved him between rail tracks where he was forced to stand while two trains sped past.

However the defendant, who denied the charges, denied deliberately putting the alleged victim in danger at all.

He said they had gone to the railway and that he had "nudged'' the boy so he fell on to a rail but that he had not pushed him. He said he had not thrown any stones at trains.

Earlier, he said, he had crossed a busy road and the children had followed him and they had been to a canal, crossing it four times. He said he had not thought about the risk they might be taking but he denied having pushed the boy.