Friday, May 17, 2013

Was train death girl wearing headphones and texting friends? She stepped in front of 60mph express without looking

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Katie Littlewood
Katie Littlewood looked the wrong way down the railway tracks as a train was approaching at up to 60mph, an inquest has heard
A schoolgirl killed by a train at a rail crossing may not have heard it because she was using headphones and texting friends, an inquest heard yesterday.
The train driver said lecturer’s daughter Katherine Littlewood, known as Katie, stepped on to the crossing without looking.
The 15-year-old was on her way to a British Heart Foundation charity shop where she was a volunteer when she was hit. A set of headphones, an iPod and a phone were found near the GCSE student’s body.
Katie, who was described as ‘lovely and happy’, had sent her sister a message about getting her ears pierced shortly before walking on to the crossing in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire.
Train driver Steven Trumm repeatedly asked in the aftermath of the accident: ‘Why didn’t she look?’
He told an off-duty police officer who was travelling on the train that Katie turned around at the last minute when it was too late. She died instantly.
Mr Trumm said: ‘She just walked out without looking. She’s a young girl about my daughter’s age. It’s the second time it’s happened to me.’ The train, travelling from London Liverpool Street to Cambridge, had been accelerating after leaving Bishop’s Stortford station and was travelling at 60mph when it hit Katie in January last year.
Mr Trumm was the only witness to Katie’s death and was clear she was not trying to take her own life.
He told police: ‘I saw the female stride forward purposely as if she had made the decision it was safe to do so.
‘As I sounded my horn, the female looked towards my approaching train. She looked shocked and then the train almost instantaneously hit her.’
Katie had been on her way to her job at the British Heart Foundation just before midday when she died
Katie had been on her way to her job at the British Heart Foundation just before midday when she died
Katie Littlewood (pictured, right, with her sisters Sarah, left, and Stephanie, centre) may have been listening to her headphones at the time of the incident
Katie Littlewood (pictured, right, with her sisters Sarah, left, and Stephanie, centre) may have been listening to her headphones at the time of the incident
Signs at the crossing in Bishop Stortford warned it was safe to cross only when there was a green light
Signs at the crossing in Bishop Stortford warned it was safe to cross only when there was a green light
Katie’s father, Simon Littlewood, who attended the hearing with her 18-year-old sister Sarah, expressed sympathy for the driver, who was not present.
The lecturer said: ‘The family have great sympathy for the driver for what he had to go through.’
Detective Inspector Andrew Rose, of the British Transport Police, said: ‘We found a set of earphones, an iPod nano and a BlackBerry phone by her body.
'There were three uses of her mobile phone before the accident. The messages were normal “chit chat” – typical text messages of a teenager.’
Signs at the crossing, near Stansted Airport, warned pedestrians that it was safe to cross only when there was a green light.
Victims of ipod oblivion.jpg
Police lay flowers at the scene where Katie was hit by the train
Police lay flowers at the scene where Katie was hit by the train
Katie's father Simon Littlewood, pictured with his daughter Sarah Littlewood, told the inquest he wanted the death 'to act as a warning to everybody'
Katie's father Simon Littlewood, pictured with his daughter Sarah Littlewood, told the inquest he wanted the death 'to act as a warning to everybody'
The system had been installed after a woman walking her dog died at the same spot in 2002.
There was also what the coroner Edward Thomas described as ‘an audible warning’. The coroner added: ‘Of course, if people have earphones they won’t hear it.’
Despite the safety improvements another woman, Andrea Evans, 24, was killed on the crossing in 2006. A report into Katie’s death by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch concluded that it was impossible to say for certain if she had been using her headphones as they were found next to rather than on her body. All warning systems were working properly at the time of her death.
The report detailed five years of inaction and error by Network Rail before the accident. A feasibility study into building a bridge at the crossing had been approved but not carried out.
It added: ‘Network Rail did not follow up a proposal in 2007 to install a footbridge after analysis has shown that the benefits of so doing would exceed the costs.’
A £2million bridge was built over the crossing nine months ago. A Network Rail spokesman said the company would carefully consider the recommendations in the report and take any necessary action.
Katie’s mother Ruth White, a family doctor, died from cancer in 2009 aged 49. The teenager and her sisters Sarah and Stephanie, 12, moved from Morpeth in Northumberland to live with their uncle and his partner in Hertfordshire.
The jury at Hertfordshire Coroners Court in Hatfield returned a verdict of accidental death after more than an hour of deliberation.
A pair of headphones, an iPod Nano and her Blackberry phone were found next to Katie's body at the crossing. Pictured are flowers from a previous death at the crossing
A pair of headphones, an iPod Nano and her Blackberry phone were found next to Katie's body at the crossing. Pictured are flowers from a previous death at the crossing
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