Teen tells of moments leading to friend's train death

6:00am Tuesday 2nd October 2012 in News Exclusive By Jacqueline McMillan

Ryan French Ryan French

A TEENAGE girl who was with Ryan French less than an hour before he died claims the youngster seemed his normal happy-go-lucky self leading up to the tragedy.

Ryan French, 16, died two weeks ago after he was hit by a train on the Southend Victoria to London Liverpool Street line near Ferndale Road, off Hambro Hill.

Paramedics rushed to the scene to help the youngster at around 12:27pm on September 18, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Fellow Sweyne Park School pupil, Leah Hailes, 16, of North Avenue, Southend, was with Ryan a mere 45 minutes before the incident occurred, having taken him to Rayleigh train station for breakfast at 11:45am.

Hours later she received the harrowing news that Ryan, the youngest of three children, had been killed and that she was the last person to see him.

His pals completed a memorial walk for Ryan on Sunday, walking 17 miles to mark what would have been his 17th birthday.

Comments (2)

8:55am Tue 2 Oct 12

Russ13 says...

Headline is completely misleading. IMO "moments" would be a matter of a few minutes.

Without wanting to sound disrespectful to anyone, the headline may as we have read "Teen had breakfast before being killed by a train", there's no correlation between the events of that morning to the tragic incident itself.
Headline is completely misleading. IMO "moments" would be a matter of a few minutes. Without wanting to sound disrespectful to anyone, the headline may as we have read "Teen had breakfast before being killed by a train", there's no correlation between the events of that morning to the tragic incident itself. Russ13

4:49pm Wed 3 Oct 12

psorias says...

Russ13 wrote:
Headline is completely misleading. IMO "moments" would be a matter of a few minutes.

Without wanting to sound disrespectful to anyone, the headline may as we have read "Teen had breakfast before being killed by a train", there's no correlation between the events of that morning to the tragic incident itself.
You do sound disrespectful. This young lad had many family, friends and people that knew him, they are most likely to read your post. I for one know people who knew him including my sons, and I am pleased to read that he had a nice morning with friends. This was a very sad incident and not the time to practice your editorial skills. I suggest if you wish to decide what gets reported you get a job at a newspaper.
[quote][p][bold]Russ13[/bold] wrote: Headline is completely misleading. IMO "moments" would be a matter of a few minutes. Without wanting to sound disrespectful to anyone, the headline may as we have read "Teen had breakfast before being killed by a train", there's no correlation between the events of that morning to the tragic incident itself.[/p][/quote]You do sound disrespectful. This young lad had many family, friends and people that knew him, they are most likely to read your post. I for one know people who knew him including my sons, and I am pleased to read that he had a nice morning with friends. This was a very sad incident and not the time to practice your editorial skills. I suggest if you wish to decide what gets reported you get a job at a newspaper. psorias

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