A 16-YEAR-OLD girl killed in a collision with a train had tried to scramble back on to a platform seconds before the impact, an inquest heard.

Kate Mullins was running down the track away from the train when it struck her at Pokesdown station in Bournemouth, Assistant Dorset Coroner Brendan Allen was told.

The Bournemouth inquest heard Miss Mullins had been anxious about GCSE exams and her appearance and had lost a lot of weight in the months leading up to her death.

Weeks before she died she told her mum she had felt like throwing herself under a car but then said she had no intention of harming herself.

The coroner heard she left her home in Halifax Way in Mudeford on the afternoon of Sunday March 17.

She was supposed to be going to work but instead asked a taxi driver to drop her off in Christchurch town centre.

CCTV obtained by police shows Miss Mullins alone in the Christchurch, Boscombe and Pokesdown areas before she arrived at Pokesdown station at 8.25pm.

She is seen to sit on a bench for five minutes before sitting on the edge of the platform and lowering herself on to the track.

As the train approaches she is seen trying to climb back on to the platform and then running before the impact. She died of multiple injuries.

The inquest heard Miss Mullins was a popular student at Highcliffe School and was also a member of the St John Ambulance service and a local youth club.

Highcliffe School head teacher Patrick Earnshaw told the inquest: “She was well-liked and had a very secure and strong group of friends.

“She worked very hard, took her studies seriously and was extremely well-behaved. She was not any more or less anxious about her exams that any hard-working student keen to do well would be at this time.”

Mr Earnshaw said she had met with a member of the school’s pastoral care team and a specialist school nurse after concerns were raised about her anxiety.

But the inquest heard that she had never expressed a desire to harm herself.

Mr Allen recorded a conclusion of misadventure, meaning her death was the unintended consequence of an intended act.

He said: “It was not her intention to end her life but tragically she was not able to get back on to the platform before a train travelled through the station. Kate’s death is undoubtedly a tragedy.”

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