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A reveller killed a ­vulnerable teenager when he doused him in tanning oil and set him alight at his own 18th birthday party.

Jordan Sheard, 20, flicked a lighter at Steven Simpson’s groin as part of a 2am prank, then ran from the flat, a court heard today.

Steven, who lived alone and had Asperger syndrome, epilepsy and a speech impairment, died the next day in hospital from 60% burns.

He was bullied at the party over his disability and the fact he was gay, before being dared to strip to his boxers.

Judge Roger Keen told him: “Egged on by others you sought to put a flame to Steven.

“What it did was engulf him in a fire. You tried to briefly assist and then you ran away. That in my judgment is serious aggravation.”

Sarah Wright, prosecuting, told Sheffield crown court: “Steven seemed to be enjoying the situation.

"Then Jordan Sheard took out a lighter and Steven... went up in flames.”

At the hospital before he died Steven told his father Kevin that: “A lad took a bottle out of a drawer and chucked it over him.

"The next thing he remembered was going up in flames."

At first nobody turned up for Steven’s party on Friday, June 22 last year where a neighbour had made a buffet and provided beer.

Steven then went to collect partygoers and a number of young people arrived.

He seemed to be enjoying himself and there was horseplay and Steven was encouraged to strip to his boxer shorts.

Some time after 2am partygoer Reece Thompson poured Calypso tanning oil from a bottle over Steven in his bedroom and said Ms Wright: “Steven did not object, he seemed to be enjoying the situation.

"Then Jordan Sheard took out a cigarette lighter struck it and held it to Steven and he went up in flames.”

Andrew Smith, defending, said: “It was the result of a criminally stupid prank that went wrong in a bad way.”

He said: “He is a pleasant young man with no edge to his character, hard-working and has a degree of intelligence.

"He has been deeply and significantly affected by what he has done and the tragic consequences that ensued from it.”

A pal described Steven as “a very nice lad who wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Sheard, of Cudworth, near Barnsley, initially tried to blame Steven for setting himself on fire.

He was jailed for three-and-a-half years after he admitted manslaughter.