A TEENAGER who died after being hit by a train had been suffering from depression, an inquest has heard.

Fifteen-year-old John Crawley of Stephenson Road, Newton-le-Willows died from multiple injuries after being struck by a Carlisle-to-Willesden mail train at the rear of Red Bank School, Newton, at about 9.20pm on Tuesday, April 13.

The jury at the inquest at St Helens Town Hall heard how John had suffered from behavioural problems which led to him being expelled from St Aelred's High School

At the time of his death, he was a day pupil at Clarence House, Formby and had been suffering from depression. Several times during the month leading up to his death he had told friends he was going to kill himself.

John's girlfriend, Nicola Baines, told how she and a group of friends had been out on the night of his death, and she recalled that before he left he threw his keys, cigarettes and lighter on to the pavement and said he wouldn't be needing them any more.

The driver of the train said he saw the blond teenager standing, with his arms outstretched, on the track in front just seconds before the fatal collision. He said there was no way he could have stopped the train, which was travelling at a speed of 65 to 70mph, in time.

The jury at the hearing decided that John had "killed himself while the state of his mind was unbalanced."

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