A YOUNG father decided to spend a penny - and it almost cost him his life.

He answered the call of nature behind a wall - but slipped and fell 60ft.

And while Jonathan Moran was in hospital, his heart stopped and his lungs punctured.

Now, Jonathan - who was married only in May - has told of the accident that left him with a broken back.

Jonathan, 24, of North Drive, Golcar, was walking to a 24-hour garage with a friend after a night at a Huddersfield club.

The pair needed the toilet, so jumped over a wall in Scar Lane, near Golcar Bridge, to avoid being seen.

But the trainee supervisor at suit yarn spinners Globe Worsted in Slaithwaite stumbled and fell down a steep banking above the railway lines.

Jonathan said: "I remember stepping back, then I just started to fall. I was quite calm, actually. I didn't panic, but I did say a little prayer.

"I tried to grab hold of things that I passed on the way down, but could not get a grip. The fall itself seems like a dream now, thinking back."

Jonathan landed on an old television stand someone had dumped over the edge.

"If that stand had not stopped me I would have carried on and smashed into a pile of rubble just metres away," he said.

Jonathan's friend called the police and ambulance service.

The fall had broken bones in Jonathan's back and left him fighting for life.

Jonathan, who has two children, Alex, three, and Alicia, one, said: "I was unconscious until the police helicopter's lights shone in my face. That brought me round a bit.

"When the paramedics found me and got me in the ambulance the pain really started to kick in. It was terrible. I felt like I couldn't take it any more. I was just screaming."

But when Jonathan arrived at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary things got worse and his heart stopped.

"I can remember it happening," he said. "It was very strange and frightening. I don't remember how the doctors brought me back round.

"The doctors and nurses were brilliant. They saved my life."

Jonathan remained in a serious condition and the next day fluid that had built up around his lungs caused them to puncture.

But, incredibly, Jonathan was out within nine days.

But he will be off work for at least another month.

He returned home to new wife Gemma, 22, who he married at Golcar Parish Church.

She said: "I was there when his heart stopped. I just ran out. I was so scared. This sort of thing really brings the important things home to you."