Man piled slabs on rail line (From Witney Gazette)

Man piled slabs on rail line

8:40am Monday 26th February 2007 in Witney By The Page Turner

A MAN who tried to derail a packed passenger train walked free from court, despite a judge being told he had "a dreadful record".

David Harris, 55, piled concrete slabs on the tracks and watched as a London-bound First Great Western train slammed into them at 60mph at Finstock station, near Charlbury.

Despite his actions, the high-speed train stayed on the rails and no one on board was injured, Oxford Crown Court was told.

Harris, of Marlborough Road, South Oxford, admitted causing criminal damage and obstructing a train.

Judge Julian Hall gave him a 12-month suspended sentence and imposed a 12-month supervision order.

The court heard that Harris was drunk when he went to the station and tore up concrete slabs covering cables.

He also deliberately damaged signalling equipment before carrying the slabs to the line and piling a 2ft tall stack on the tracks to await the next train.

As the Adelante 180 sped towards him at 60mph, Harris dived for cover and the train shot past him "within a whisker of his life."

Judge Hall heard how the train, which was travelling from Great Malvern to London Paddington via Oxfordshire, "miraculously" escaped derailment and stopped 600 yards down the line.

Local resident Christopher Huband spotted Harris shortly after midday on July 9 last year.

He alerted police who followed Harris down the line before arresting him.

Harris told officers that he had been at a rock concert, had had a couple of sherbets (drinks) and got thrown out.

Clare Tucker, prosecuting, said the crash damaged the train's global satellite system, costing Network Rail £20,000 to repair.

She added that the defendant had a "dreadful record" of previous convictions, with a gap between 1994 and his last conviction in 2006, for which he was sent to prison.

Harris admitted one count of causing criminal damage and a further charge of obstructing an engine or a carriage using a railway, contrary to Section 36 of the Malicious Damage Act 1861.

Alastair Granger, defending, said his client, who has three previous convictions of criminal damage in 1994, suffered from mental health problems, and believed he was a silver medal winner at the Montreal Olympics in 1976 at the time of the incident.

The judge sentenced Harris to a 12-month suspended jail term for each offence. He also ordered him to undergo a 12-month supervision order while remaining at a bail hostel in Windsor while he was treated.

He told Harris: "What you did could have been absolutely disastrous. When trains come off the track going at speed, a lot of people get hurt and enormous amount of damage is done."