'I was trapped in drain for th

Byline: BEN SCHOFIELD

A MAN stuck down an drain for three long hours today spoke of his nightmare ordeal.

Disabled Paul Marsh Jnr, 43, was left trapped up to his chest after falling down the hole left exposed when the metal grate was stolen..

He drama started at 3am yesterday - ending at 6am when rescuers finally released him.

Mr Marsh lost a shoe in the plunge and said he felt a rat nibbling at his foot and ankle while he was trapped.

Mr Marsh, of Conleach Road, Speke, said he reported the missing grate to police after it was stolen some two weeks ago.

Unbeknown to him his mum Kathleen Caine also fell down the hole just days earlier, but managed to free herself..

It was pitch black outside Mr Marsh's house when he fell - because none of the street lights were working.

The accident happened after Mr Marsh had reversed his car out of his back garden and into the alleyway behind his terraced home.

As he got out to close the gates behind him, he fell into the hole in the road.

Speaking from bed in Whiston hospital Mr Marsh told the ECHO: "I was going to the cash card machine at the HSBC.

"I got out the car and the next minute I was down right up to my chest.

"My head was touching the bottom of the car door. The next minute the door whacked me in the head. I think I went out or went to sleep for a while.

"When I woke up one leg was dead. One was straight and the other was Porsche Design Watch bent backwards. Every time I tried to get out, I slipped further in.

"There were all sort of things down there. At the side there was a little tunnel where the rain water goes. I told the firemen there was something nibbling at my ankle."

Mr Marsh said after about an hour two passers-by tried to help - but could not get him out. He finally managed to raise the alarm at around 5am using his mobile.

The phone was still inside the car and he was only able to reach it using his walking stick.

Mr Marsh is deaf in both ears, suffers with asthma and has difficulty walking.

Firefighters from Speke eventually rescued him plucking him from the drain using a rope and pulley attached to a nearby lamppost.

Mr Marsh added: "It took me ages to get my phone - about an hour.

"If I didn't have that, I would have been there all night and all day.

"I've got marks under my arms where the rope was."

Mr Marsh also lost one of his hearing aids and a bracelet down the drain.

To get to him, firefighters had to cut off one of the doors of Mr Marsh's car.

He says without the use of the car, he will be housebound.

Mr Marsh added: "There's going to be a big dispute with the insurance company. The wing's damaged and the door's damaged.

"But they said 'if we don't take that door off,
embroidered patches you'll be there all night'."

Mr Marsh was due to be discharged from Whiston hospital today after being treated for cuts and bruises..