A SERVING soldier was accused in court yesterday of illegally entering a signal box on a busy rail line and tampering with signals and points.

Paul Jarvis, 18, from New Marske, east Cleveland, was charged under the 1861 Malicious Damage Act with endangering the safety of persons on the railway on January 20.

The charge, which carries a maximum punishment of life imprisonment, refers to allegations he changed signals to red and altered the points at Longbeck signalbox, near Saltburn, on the Darlington to Saltburn line.

Mr Jarvis, of Barnaby Close, New Marske, who is based in Norwich, did not attend the hearing before District Judge James Prowse at Teesside Magistrates Court, in Middlesbrough.

The case was adjourned for a week at the request of his solicitors and he was remanded on unconditional bail