3-year-old girl survives after suicidal father runs across moving train with her

A three-year-old girl miraculously survived when her suicidal father ran into the path of a 70mph express train while holding her in his arms – a day after discovering the girl’s mother was seeing another man.

Scarlett Straw was found barely alive on the trackside after her father Richard, 28, tried to kill them both on the high-speed stretch of the main east coast line on July 11 2011.

Her cheekbone was fractured, one arm was broken and one leg was smashed by the blow, which also left her with a huge wound on the back of her head.
And today an inquest heard how Straw ran at the train ‘as if from some starting blocks’ after he found out his estranged partner Samantha Roberts had started a relationship with another man.

And in a further chilling twist, it emerged he had scrawled abusive graffiti over the walls of his former family home, including the words, ‘good bye Sammy, good bye mummy.’

A note found in Mr Straw’s Renault Megane, which was found parked near the train tracks on the day he died in July also stated that Scarlett is ‘coming with me, far far away from you.’

While Mr Straw died from multiple injuries, miraculously little Scarlett escaped with broken bones.

Doncaster Coroners Court, South Yorkshire, heard that Mr Straw and Miss Roberts split after five years together.

Miss Roberts described Straw as a loving dad one day who could be ‘horrible and nasty’ the next, and said that the relationship with Mr Straw properly broke down in April last year when they had a big argument following him losing money gambling.

‘I think he was pampered a lot by his parents, if his uniform wasn’t ready or his pack lunch he would go mad,’ said Miss Roberts.

The court also heard that Miss Roberts had been seeing a friend of warehouse operator Mr Straw since they split.

Miss Roberts told the court that she thinks he found out ‘properly’ about this on the day before he killed himself. He had followed her that Sunday and acted aggressively.

On the Monday morning he turned up unannounced and asked if he could take Scarlett to the park and McDonalds as he had taken the day off work.

‘He said he was thinking about what happened yesterday and had realised he had lost us and had taken the day off work and didn’t want to waste it,’ said Miss Roberts.

She agreed as long as he brought their daughter back by midday as she need to get a school uniform. He seemed calmer than the previous day and he ‘seemed happy’, she added.

‘He said to Scarlett to say goodbye to mummy and tell her you love her,’ said Miss Roberts.

It was when she returned to the house in Doncaster later that day that she realised Mr Straw had been back because he had returned the family dog. Then, when she entered her house she noticed ‘hateful and vitriolic’ writing over the walls, in his handwriting.

They included the words, ‘you always wanted me dead’ and ‘mummy I love you, goodbye’.

PC Paul Setterfield, who attended the property after the discovery of Mr Straw on the tracks, said the writing was ‘of an abusive nature aimed at Samantha’.

DC Ian Grice said: ‘There was a lot of hatred towards Samantha, a lot of look what you’ve done.’

Minutes after noticing the graffiti the police phoned Miss Roberts to tell her what had happened.

It is unclear exactly what Mr Straw’s movements were after he picked Scarlett up from her mother’s but around 12.30pm train driver David Dobson saw a white male run from the undergrowth at the side of the tracks as he neared a crossing.

Mr Dobson said the man was running as if ‘he was running from some starting blocks’ and as he saw the train he seemed to speed up.

In his statement the driver, with 34 years experience, said he could see he was carrying a young girl, adding ‘she was being carried on his left hip, had her arms around his neck and her head on his shoulder.’

Moments later he heard a bang on the right side of the train and knew he had him, the train came to an emergency stop and the emergency services were called.

Another driver went down the tracks to check and found Mr Straw dead but the girl miraculously alive. Badly injured she lay a short distance away from her father.

Scarlett’s cheekbone was fractured, one arm was broken and one leg was smashed by the blow, which also left her with a huge wound on the back of her head.

But just months after Scarlett, now four, made a miraculous recovery, following multiple operations and 45 days in hospital.

Mr Straw died from multiple fractures and injuries.

DC Grice, of South Yorkshire Police, told the court that in Mr Straw’s car which was found nearby the found a note that described the same hatred towards his ex-partner voiced in the graffiti.

He said that note stated that Mr Straw couldn’t ‘wait for the train to come’ and that by 11.40am he had watched two go by already.

Passing a verdict of suicide coroner Nicola Mundy said she was satisfied this was a deliberate act.

She said the graffiti on the walls was full ‘of hatred and vitriol’ in regards to Mr Straws ex-partner and fear that he may lose contact with his daughter.

The court had heard that Mr Shaw was on bail for a suspected arson attack on a property and was afraid that if he went to jail he would lose contact with his family.

Miss Mundy referred to the graffiti and note, adding they ‘indicated that he wanted to take his daughter with him, wherever that may be’.

As the inquest concluded she told Miss Roberts: ‘I’d like to extend to your daughter the very best wishes for her health an happiness.’