The inquest

It has taken over one year to get to the inquest because the British Transport Police have been trying to prosecute the train dispatcher for Gross negligence and manslaughter. The Crown prosecution service unfortunately would not allow this prosecution because although they were happy they would have no problem proving negligence they couldn’t prove the manslaughter because none of the three Pathologists that were asked could say that Simon would have lived if found earlier

The inquest was held in front of a jury and took two days. Evidence was given by Simons two colleagues that were with him that night,3 Train drivers,2 Security personell,3 Pathologists ,1 paramedic.1 Train manager who investigated the incident for One Rail, The railways inspector, Detective inspector Brooks for British transport police and the Train dispatcher.

The evidence included a visit to Gidea Park Station by the Jury.

After the two days of evidence the jury were given three verdicts by the Coroner from which they could choose. These were Unlawful killing, Narrative or Accident.

The jury which had been there for two weeks were asked to deliberate between these three complex verdicts on Friday afternoon at approx 4.30 pm on thier last day .They took just 30 minutes and returned a verdict of accidental and we left

This was very disappointing for us