A RAILWAY GUARD WHOSE YOUNG SON WAS ELECTROCUTED O

A RAILWAY GUARD WHOSE YOUNG SON WAS ELECTROCUTED ON A LIVE

RAILWAY LINE CRITICISED BRITISH RAIL ON WEDNESDAY FOR NOT PUTTING UP

ADEQUATE FENCING.

EIGHT YEAR OLD HAYDEN MESSIAH (COR) WAS FOUND LYING FACE DOWN

ON THE LINE NEAR YORK HILL BRIDGE WEST NORWOOD ON AUGUST 5 THIS YEAR.

THE FOLLOWING DAY A NEW 6FT FENCE TOPPED WITH BARBED WAS

ERECTED NEAR THE SPOT WHERE HE WAS FOUND.

AFTER THE SOUTHWARK INQUEST HAYDEN’S FATHER CLARENCE SAID:

‘THOSE LINES ARE DANGEROUS.

BRITISH RAIL NEVER HAVE GOOD FENCES AND I

WOULD LIKE TO SEE 20FT FENCES, CHILD PROOF ONES, INSTALLED BY THE

TRACK’.

HE ADDED: ‘I ALWAYS WARNED HIM TO KEEP AWAY FROM TRAINS.

IN

MY OPINION HE WAS PLAYING SOMEWHERE ROUND THERE AND I BELIEVE THE

FENCE GUARDING THE RAIL WAS NOT SUFFICIENT – IT WAS ONLY ABOUT 5FT

HIGH’.

EARLIER THE INQUEST WAS TOLD THAT HAYDEN HAD CLIMBED THE

FENCE BEFORE TO PLAY BESIDE THE TRACKS.

THE INQUEST HEARD THAT HAYDEN OF EASTERN HOUSE, YORK HILL

ESTATE, WEST NORWOOD, HAD SOMEHOW GOT ONTO THE TRACKS AFTER PLAYING

NEARBY.

TEN YEAR OLD DANIEL GRIFFIN, WHO LIVES IN THE SAME BLOCK OF

FLATS SAID HE SAW THE BOY PLAYING NEAR THE YORK HILL RAILWAY BRIDGE

JUST BEFORE HE DIED.

IN A STATEMENT READ TO THE COURT DANIEL SAID: ‘HE WAS BY

HIMSELF AND PLAYING WITH AN OLD BIKE FRAME ON A PAVEMENT BY THE

BRIDGE.

‘THAT WAS THE LAST TIME I SAW HIM, AT ABOUT QUARTER TO SEVEN.

ON A COUPLE OF OCCASIONS, THE LAST BEING SIX WEEKS AGO, I DID SEE HIM

CLIMB OVER THE FENCE WHICH LEADS DOWN TO THE RAILWAY’.

BRITISH RAIL SAFETY OFFICER ROANLD REEVES, IN CHARGE OF FENCE

CHECKING, TOLD THE INQUEST: ‘THIS FENCE WAS LAST FULLY EXAMINED ON

JULY 24 WHEN IT WAS FOUND TO BE IN GOOD ORDER, BUT THERE HAD BEEN

VISIBLE EXAMINATIONS TWICE A WEEK, THE LAST ONE THE DAY BEFORE HE

DIED’.

THE INQUEST DID NOT HEAR EVIDENCE ON WHETHER THE FENCE WAS

BROKEN WHEN HAYDEN CLIMB ONTO THE LINE.

NEIL HOLORAN, OF COULSDEN ROAD, OLD COULSDEN, SURREY, WAS

DRIVING A TRAIN FROM TULSE HILL TO WEST NORWOOD WHEN HE SPOTTED

THE BODY ON THE LINE.

‘WE STOPPED AT A RED SIGNAL AND I SAW SMOKE COMING FROM THE

ELECTRIC RAIL.

I COULD SEE THE BODY OF A YOUNG PERSON LYING FACE DOWN

ON THE LINE’, HE TOLD THE INQUEST.

CORONER DR DAVID VERNON FOSTER TOLD THE JURY: ‘WE HAVE VERY

LITTLE EVIDENCE.

ALL WE KNOW IS THAT THIS LITTLE BOY DIED ON THE LINE

NEAR YORK HILL BRIDGE.

WHETHER HE SLIPPED OR FELL WE DON’T KNOW.

THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT HE WAS PUSHED.

‘

THE JURY RETURNED AN OPEN VERDICT.

ENDS

MMMM

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