A BEREAVED mother and wife from Winsford who died after walking in front of a train at Winsford railway station tried to get out of the way, according to a witness.


Marion Gormley, 59, who lived on High Street in Winsford, died in July this year after walking onto the track at Winsford station and being hit by a train.


But coroner Jean Harkin decided that her death was due to misadventure rather than suicide because she tried to escape on the last minute.


Crewe coroner’s court heard on Friday, November 28, that Marion went into a ‘dark place’ after her daughter died of cancer and tried several times to take her own life.


Daniel Mooney, Marion’s husband, said: “I met Marion 29 years ago and when I first met her she was such a bright and bubbly person, but one day she just started crying in work and that was the start of it.


“She started to get better but then our daughter died of cancer and that put Marion back in her dark place and when we moved from where we were to our new home she just isolated herself.


“I work away a lot but I called her every day at 6pm and this time she wasn’t answering and I was worried so I called the police to go round and check on her.”


Marion was diagnosed with progressive mental illness disorder and received psychiatric help for coping with her depression.


A witness, who was stood on the platform at Winsford station at the time, told the coroner how Marion tried to move out of the way.


Gary Day, who witnessed the incident, said: “She walked out and stood in the middle of the track when the train was coming, but then she moved to the side and tried to climb up onto the platform. It was like watching someone trying to get out of a swimming pool.


“She couldn’t get up and the train came that quick it was too late.


“The train driver did everything he could. The brakes were going, the tracks were going orange, and he was blowing his horn.


“It looked like a total last minute decision to get out of the way.”


Simon Dunn, who was driving the train, was questioned in the coroner’s court and spoke of how he tried his best to bring the train to a halt.


Mr Dunn said: “I was approaching Winsford and I just a silhouette stood in the middle of the tracks.


“Sometimes there are maintenance workers there but they wear hi-vis jackets so I knew straight away this was something else.


“I took the power off and sounded the horn but she just walked out and stood with her back to me.”


The coroner stated that the cause of Marion’s death was multiple injuries with a predominant head injury being ‘not survivable.’