Four tram workers, two of them from Bolton and one from Bury, have appeared in court charged with manslaughter.

Jack Barnes, a 29-year-old father-of-one from Hull, suffered a cardiac arrest after he was restrained by Metrolink “customer service representatives.”

Mr Barnes died in hospital on December 2 2016, less than two months after the incident in Manchester city centre.

On Thursday, Paul Fogarty, 50; Stephen Rowlands, 67; Matthew Sellers, 29; and Brian Gartside, 59, appeared in the dock at Manchester Magistrates’ Court to each face a charge that they unlawfully killed Mr Barnes.

Ben Southam, prosecuting, told the court the decision to prosecute the men was made following an inquest ruling in 2021.

No pleas were entered as magistrates adjourned the case.

Fogarty, of Monks Lane, Bolton; Rowlands, of Wearish Lane, Westhoughton; Sellers, of Heathfield Road, Bury, and Gartside, of Danesworth Avenue, Whitworth, were all granted unconditional bail.

Rowlands faces an additional charge of perverting the course of justice by allegedly providing a false witness statement to Greater Manchester Police in October 2016.

A further hearing will take place at Manchester Crown Court on February 8.