Georgia Varley train death: Guard guilty over rail death fall

[Chewbacca]

A Merseyrail guard has been found guilty of causing the death of a 16-year-old girl who died after falling under a train at a Liverpool station.

Georgia Varley died when she fell between the carriage and platform at James Street station in October 2011. Christopher McGee, 45, had denied manslaughter but was found guilty at Liverpool Crown Court. He signalled for the driver to depart as Miss Varley, who was drunk, stood on the platform leaning against the train. The prosecution said McGee should have been able to see that she was in an "intoxicated state". But he told the jury he thought the sixth form student was moving away from the train when he gave the signal to depart. He also said he did not know how drunk she had been.

McGee, of Wallasey, Wirral, was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence and the jury was then discharged from reaching a verdict in an alternative, lesser charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act. Speaking outside court, Miss Varley's mother, Paula Redmond, 41, said: "Christopher McGee will complete his sentence and return to his family. Mine is now gone forever. "We have listened as our daughter was portrayed as being a drunken liability when, in all honesty, she did no more than what many teenagers do of a weekend - she went out to celebrate her friend's birthday. "The only liability that night was a train guard whom Georgia had the catastrophic misfortune to encounter. "For he had very little, if any, regard at all for our daughter and her safety." Ms Redmond said her daughter was "an absolute joy to be around". "To say she was a wonderful, amazing daughter would be a massive understatement," she added.

Christopher McGee was found guilty of causing the death of Georgia Varley
Miss Varley, from Moreton, Wirral, had been at a house party before she went into Liverpool for a night out with her friends when the tragedy happened on 22 October last year. A blood analysis following her death showed she had 236mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood in her system - the legal driving limit is 80mg. She also had the drug mephedrone in her system at the time of her death. During the trial, the jury was shown CCTV footage of the moments before the teenager's death. The footage showed Miss Varley mistakenly getting off the train just before 23:30 BST, before turning around and leaning against the side as she realised her friends were still on board. She was then seen to stagger and fall down the gap as the train moved off, before stopping after travelling about 30ft (9m). Mr Justice Holroyde said he would pass sentence on Thursday morning. He remanded McGee in custody saying it was a "very serious offence" and said he faces a sentence of imprisonment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-20328125

So, according to the blood analysis, she had 236mg of alcohol in her system, the legal driving limit being 80mg. She had also taken drugs prior to the accident. Mother: "The only liability that night was a train guard whom Georgia had the catastrophic misfortune to encounter. For he had very little, if any, regard at all for our daughter and her safety."

The only liability was the 16 year old Georgia being drunk as hell and her mother is blaming everyone everyone else for Georgia's death instead of taking responsibility for the fact she was drunk as hell. And clearly she had very little regard for her daughter and her safety if she says "she did no more than what many teenagers do of a weekend - she went out to celebrate her friend's birthday." Meaning that she was well aware of her drinking heavily. At the age of 16, that is.

 

[Leifr Eiríksson]

I tend to feel pretty disgusted at the obscene levels of binge drinking amongst students in the UK. The girl would not be dead if she had been sensible and refused drink after that point; the one where we say "I've had a little too much to drink, I should stop now". Sixteen years old? Why aren't her parents being held liable for negligence? Her friends? Whomever supplied the alcohol? I'm not suggesting that she deserved death but that she tipped the scales heavily against her favour when deciding to make the ****ing marvellous decision to get ****-faced and then hang around train stations.
Saying that; dude who ordered the train to move off ought have err'd on the side of caution. Oh well...

 

[Anthropoid]

Wow, I was under the impression it was just like "every man for himself" with regard to getting on and off those things. Didn't realize the guards/drivers had to actually watch out for drunks doing stupid stuff near the doors.

I guess if the idea is: they use their mirrors and other observers to insure there is NO ONE anywhere near the train before it departs, then sure that is great. But based on my experiences with metros, they take off and if you are rushing to get in: tough luck.

 

[Radalan]

Only way this guy would get a manslaughter sentence in here was if he pushed her.

 

[Austupaio]

Huh, that's pretty damned stupid. As a security guard who deals with drunks, often times well over the line of 'extremely intoxicated', I'm glad I don't live in the U.K. That's bull****.

Getting drunk and high is a choice, if that death can be called anything other than an accident; it was suicide.

The mother is obviously biased and looking for someone to blame other than her own daughter or her peers.

 

[Pharaoh Llandy]

Didn't realize the guards/drivers had to actually watch out for drunks doing stupid stuff near the doors.

Why wouldn't they do that? It's one of the things they're employed to do. It's not just the piss-heads and druggies they have to look out for, but *anything* that could pose a danger.

It would be *very* easy for a small child to fall down the platform, especially in that most civilised "rush" you speak of. Or a bag or something might fall down and become entangled in the wheels, possibly causing a derailment further down the line which could lead to mass casualties. It's common sense really.

That said... A 16yr old girl girl x3 over the legal driving limit, taking mephadrone and left to get public transportation at night? Smacks of good parenting, that...

 

[Austupaio]

Why wouldn't they do that? It's one of the things they're employed to do. It's not just the piss-heads and druggies they have to look out for, but *anything* that could pose a danger.

So fire him for not doing his job, don't turn the man into a convict who's going to end up going into debt from bills stacking up while imprisoned, not to mention how difficult it is for an ex-prisoner to get a new job.

 

[Pharaoh Llandy]

I'm not saying I agree with the sentence, I'm saying looking out for thise sort of stuff is what they're supposed to do.

 

[Radalan]

[quote author= Mom]We have listened as our daughter was portrayed as being a drunken liability when, in all honesty, she did no more than what many teenagers do of a weekend[/quote]

[quote author= Dailymail] Earlier, she had been at a house party for a friend’s 18th birthday where she had drunk vodka and was said to be ‘the drunkest person at the party’.
[/quote]

[quote author= Dailymail] The court heard Georgia was drunk and also had traces of the party drug mephedrone, or Mcat, in her system. [/quote]

Well holy ****. Maybe her mom just wasn't aware of what she was doing when not home.

 

[Adorno]

She was leaning against the train and the guard signalled for the driver to depart!
That is highly dangerous and wrong of him.
Manslaughter sounds harsh, but he should certainly be punished for not doing his job.

 

[Goker]

Negligence? Maybe.

Manslaughter? Too much.

 

[Austupaio]

I had a more eloquent post typed out but then as if the cosmic void saw that I typed 'As a security guard' the fire alarm went off and I had to head to the FCC to reset a trouble supervisory.

In short; dealing with drunks make you ignore them if not despise them. I take hypothetical sympathy on the man. Honestly, I have no sympathy at all for all these drunk ****s getting themselves and other hurt all the time.

 

[Lascivo]

****ing stupid ***** deserved to die.

 

[Kobrag]

Niiiice man, keeping it classy. =/

 

[Leifr Eiríksson]

As classy as getting ****-faced in Liverpool at the age of sixteen and capping off the evening by falling under a train...

 

[Lord Burgess1]

Niiiice man, keeping it classy. =/

Jokes, you always get them.

 

[Untitled.]

And justice strikes again.

 

[Moose!]

Negligence? Maybe.

Manslaughter? Too much.

Negligence is exactly the reason why he's being charged with manslaughter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manslaughter_in_English_law

Involuntary manslaughter arises where the accused did not intend to cause death or serious injury, but caused the death of another through recklessness or criminal negligence.

I always found it funny that manslaughter is the charge for accidentally killing someone. It sounds much more brutal than murder.

 

[Goker]

Ah, but they're holding him accountable for not realizing that she was drunk. That's why the charge is "too much". He assumed that any normal human being would move back and gave the go-ahead. He should have told her to move back before doing that. That's negligence, but his negligence isn't the direct cause for her death.

 

[BenKenobi]

Lovely.

Although she lost a daughter, reaction of the mother is disgraceful.

"We have listened as our daughter was portrayed as being a drunken liability when, in all honesty, she did no more than what many teenagers do of a weekend - she went out to celebrate her friend's birthday."

This has to be my favourite way of reasoning. Lot of people do that and therefore if I bring **** onto myself by this, it simply has to be somebody else's fault, since...you know...lot of people do that. If I ever get myself killed by leaning out of the train window and hitting whatever may be out there, I really hope noone of my relatives would go like "lot of people do that, there had to be a train attendant to prevent him from leaning out of the window."

It kinda reminds me the accident I posted 'bout three days ago about a girls standing in forbidden zone and being smashed by flying Lancer Evo. We are advancing into the age where all the dangerous stuff has to be protected by a line of tank traps, barbed wire and possibly an anti-air brigade or two, since noone can take responsibility for their own stupidity and has to find the guilt elsewhere.