Trapped schoolboy Ryan Quinn's frantic call moments before train kills him

Trapped schoolboy Ryan Quinn's frantic call moments before train kills him

 

A teenager made a frantic last phone call to his father as he lay trapped in front of an oncoming train, an inquest heard.

Ryan Quinn, 14, whose hand was trapped in a cattle grid, said in the tragic cry for help: 'Daddy, you are going to have to come quickly. I cannot get out, my knuckle is stuck.'

But as his father Ivan rushed to the scene the schoolboy was run over by the oncoming train.

Moments before he died, he claimed he had been attacked in a nearby bar and was being chased in Portrush, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Police launched a murder investigation following the tragedy in January 2009, but no one has ever been charged due to a lack of evidence.

Ryan was hit by the late-night train travelling from from Coleraine to Portrush and suffered massive injuries.

His father Ivan said in a statement read to Coleraine Coroner's Court said: 'He was starting to get hysterical and the more he got hysterical he was begging me, he was screaming down the phone.'

Although his family are convinced he was murdered, police have been unable to prove how the St Joseph's College, Coleraine, pupil came to be lying on the line when the train hit him.

There are apparently two suspects but the Public Prosecution Service has insufficient evidence to bring a case.

Mr Quinn, speaking from Maghaberry Prison via video link, added: 'My son was not just my son, he was my best friend and I knew him probably better than anybody.'

Train driver Ian Cairns said he believed he had seen somebody running away from the line a split second before the collision.

Forensic officers examine the scene in Portrush, County Antrim, following the tragedy in January 2009. No one has been charged due to a lack of evidence

'I suddenly had a flashback, it was so vivid it gave me goosebumps,' he said.

'I am convinced there was someone else on the track prior to the train hitting Ryan Quinn.'

His first statement to police made no reference to seeing anybody else. Mr Cairns did recall the body on the track.

'I saw a person appear to be holding themselves up with their arm, the lights of the train illuminated the face and you then saw the left arm raised,' he said.

Grief: Lisa Kinnaird, mother of Ryan Quinn, 14, leaving the inquest today. The family are convinced he was murdered

Coroner John Leckey said it was a terrible situation.

'One can understand why panic would have entered the equation on seeing the oncoming train with the lights no doubt would have increased the sense of panic, a real nightmare situation,' he added.

Mr Quinn was three times over the legal drink-drive limit when he died and had been at McLaughlin's bar celebrating his half brother Dean Quinn's 18th birthday.

The teenager, from Slemish Place, Coleraine, suffered multiple injuries including spinal fractures and severed limbs.

The train driver added: 'The memory of Ryan turning around and putting his hand up has been in the forefront of my mind and that is why I believe I did not (initially) recall the first incident of the person running away.'

The victim's mother, Lisa Kinnaird, said she did not know he was going to a bar or that he had been drinking. She thought he was having a meal and celebrating the birthday with his father.

Detective Chief Inspector Ian Harrison said some witnesses in the bar had not come forward and appealed for anybody with information to contact them.

'We are aware that there was an incident in McLaughlin's pub a short time before Ryan found himself on the railway line,' he said.

'Ryan did not go on to the track for a walk. We are aware that Ryan was subjected to a minor assault prior to finding himself on the railway line.'

One of the witnesses to come forward, Glenn Carton, was drinking in the pub and did not see the assault but said Ryan told him somebody was coming to give him a kicking.

Outside court, solicitor for the family Ernie Waterworth said: 'The family have no doubt he was assaulted prior to being on the track and therefore was escaping.'

He added that they believed Ryan fell on the line.

The coroner found that heavy bruising noted in a pathology report supported the conclusion that his hand was trapped in the wooden cattle grid at the crossing.

He said Ryan died from multiple injuries sustained during the train crash.