UK: Pair Jailed For Nearly Derailing 95mph Train

[John Ashworth]

Pair Jailed For Nearly Derailing 95mph Train

11:41pm UK, Friday August 06, 2010
Lulu Sinclair, Sky News Online

Two men have been jailed after nearly derailing a 95mph train by leaving a mound of concrete posts and pallets on the line.

Richard Hamilton, 21, and Ashley Leedham, 18, from Tamworth, Staffordshire, were jailed for four-and-a-half and four years respectively at Warwick Crown Court.

The pair had arranged debris left by contractors into a 4ft-high pile on the line near Tamworth in March this year.

A train travelling from Birmingham to Nottingham at 95mph with 50 passengers on board crashed into it, nearly causing the train to derail.

It was "sheer luck" nobody was injured, said British Transport Police.

The driver managed to stop the train after hitting the objects and it eventually came to a standstill just under half a mile away.

He said afterwards that he thought he was going to die as the train lifted away from the tracks.

"I thought my time was up. I thought the train had come off the rails as it was juddering violently," he told British Transport Police officers.

"I then remember seeing a road bridge going over the railway lines and I remember shouting to myself, 'Oh no'.

"I thought the train was going to hit the bridge and that I was going to die.

"Images of my children, my family and people close to me flashed before me and I thought I would never see them again."

Network Rail's Jo Kaye said: "This was a ludicrous thing to do and could easily have resulted in passengers or the train crew being killed.

"It is good to know that the judicial system has recognised the seriousness of the case in the sentences they have given.

"I hope this acts as a lesson to anyone else who may be inclined to carry out such reckless acts."

[Derek Walker]

What I dont understand is why these fools do things like this. Do they get some vicarious thrill out of watching people die? or did they intend filming it and putting it on youtube? They should have been given a much stiffer sentence and then used as ballast!