A DRUNKEN prank left a North Wales man with severe burns to his bum. Friends were attempting to singe hairs from Eiddon James' buttocks when his bottom burst into flames. They had earlier tried to shave his head, magistrates were told. The terrified friends put out the blaze almost instantly, but Mr James was left injured. The 20-year-old was yesterday awarded £700 compensation by Llandudno magistrates, who heard he ended up in a specialist burns unit at Whiston Hospital, Merseyside. Thomas McLeod, 19, unemployed, of Inner Shield Road, Craigend, Glasgow, was ordered to pay the compensation and carry out 140 hours of community punishment. He denied assault causing actual bodily harm but was found guilty. Court chairwoman Daphne Swale said: "The impact on the victim must have been terrifying." Magistrates at Llandudno heard Mr James received second degree burns after the prank, in a house at Dwygyfylchi last October. McLeod said Mr James passed out on the bathroom floor and laughing pals tried to shave his head. He said in evidence: "They went down and were trying to shave the hairs on his bottom. Nothing was happening. That's when I went in my pocket to get the lighter. I was going to singe the hairs and it went up in flames. "It lit really quick and everyone got a fright. It was supposed to be a prank. It went all wrong." The teenager said Mr James' rear was alight for a couple of seconds, and the youths dialled 999 for help from paramedics. McLeod told prosecutor Gareth Parry that he was very drunk. Brian Cunningham, defending, suggested two friends applied a lotion on Mr James's rear without McLeod's knowledge which caused the flames. There was no evidence the injuries were caused intentionally, he added. "There's no-one more sorry than Mr McLeod for what happened on the day. He's lost his best friend." The magistrates accepted the teenager knew nothing about any substance applied to the skin. | 
