A dockworker has told a jury that he panicked after seeing a student die when a mechanical loading claw crushed his head.

The Old Bailey heard that 24-year-old Simon Jones, from Oxfordshire, had received no training during his first day of holiday work at Shoreham Harbour in Sussex.

On the day of his death, the court was told Mr Jones was assisting in unloading cargo beneath the jaws of a two-ton crane.

However, without warning, the jaws of the claw snapped shut and killed Mr Jones in seconds, said the prosecution.

The jury has heard how the lever of the crane was highly sensitive, and could be activated with the pressure of just one finger.

Simon Jones was two hours in to his first shift

It is alleged the crane operator may have accidentally nudged the controls.

Prosecuting, Patrick O'Connor, QC, has accused Euromin Ltd and Mr Martell, of Aldingbourne Drive, Chichester, West Sussex, of killing the Sussex University student through "gross negligence".

Mr Jones, from Banbury, was sent to work at the harbour by an agency for the day on 24 April, 1998.

He started work just after 0800 BST and had been helping dockworker Sean Currey to unload stones and aggregate in large bags from a ship's hold.

Mr Currey has told the court he could not sleep for six weeks after seeing the student killed.

"There was nothing I could do to help him," he said.

"I told him what to look out for nobody told me to give him instructions."

Mr Currey said: "He was bright and picked it up straight away. he didn't do anything that I regarded as unsafe."

Mr O'Connor said that although Mr Martell was not present that morning, he was in sole charge of safety at the site, and had devised the system which led to the death.

The Dutch shipping firm Euromin and its general manager Richard Martell, who's from Chichester, deny manslaughter.

Euromin also denies six charges under health and safety regulations.

The case continues.