Schoolgirl, 16, who seemingly attempted suicide killed by train as she scrambled back onto the platform after having changed her mind
In a tragic incident, a 16-year-old girl tried to climb back onto the platform before being crushed by a train in Bournemouth, an inquest heard, according to Bournemouth Echo.
Kate Mullins, a teenager, was a Year 11 student at Highcliffe School as well as a member of the St John Ambulance Service. She was seen on CCTV sitting at a Pokesdown station bench at first then climbing on to the tracks as an out of service Cross Country train approached. But, she seemed to change her mind and try to climb back up to the platform but was too late.
Weeks before she died Kate had apparently told her mother that she had felt like throwing herself under a car but then said she had no intention of harming herself.
Andrew Barrett, who was driving the train said that the train approached the station at approximately 65 mph. "I saw a female on the tracks halfway down the platform. It looked like she was trying to climb back onto the platform," he said, "About two seconds later the train struck her." He had applied the emergency brakes but it was too late. There were no passengers on the train at the time.
Assistant Dorset coroner Brendan Allen ruled the death as misadventure rather than suicide. Kate had been feeling anxious about her GCSE exams and also felt that people did not like her, her mother Donna said. "She was into her fitness and had lost a lot of weight. I think she felt anxious about her appearance and used to think people did not like her. She was very well-liked and did not know how much she was liked. She was due to take her exams in art and design, business studies, English and maths and I know she was feeling anxious," she said.
At the inquest, a member of the school’s pastoral care team and a specialist school nurse also testified after concerns were raised about Kate's anxiety.
But the inquest heard that the teen had never expressed a desire to harm herself.
Kate was last seen on March 17 after she left home to go to work at a pub in Christchurch by her brother and had seemed happy. When she didn't show up, her mother reported her missing. "I cannot think of any reason that she would want to commit suicide. She had everything to live for, I miss her now and I will miss her for the rest of my life," her mother said.
