A WESTY boy who attacked a mourner laying flowers for a dead friend has been put in juvenile custody for six months.

The drunken 17-year-old fractured the nose of his victim at Padgate Train Station, Warrington Magistrates' Court heard on Thursday.

The victim, Lee Beddows, aged 18, from Woolston, and his friends had been laying flowers and lighting candles for Matthew Syms.

Mr Syms, aged 18, had been found dead on the tracks two days earlier on October 28.

The attacker came on to the platform at around 10.15pm with eight to 10 friends and asked Mr Beddows for a cigarette.

When it was refused, he punched Mr Beddows to the ground and kicked him in face as he tried to get up.

A witness said she heard someone shout: "We are the Longford crew, we kill people."

Mr Beddows could not remember the attack and was left with a fractured nose and cut right eye.

Reporting restrictions prevented the naming of the attacker as he appeared before a youth court. The Warrington Midweek asked the court to name him in the interest of the public but the application was refused.

The attacker, who has 12 pre vious convictions, pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm.

He broke down in tears as he was taken into custody and hugged his mother before he was led out the court.

The court heard he suffered from anxiety and delusional thoughts and had tried to kill himself on more than one occasion. His mother once found him with a rope around his neck. She is in remission for cancer.