Girls killed by train as parents 'relaxed'

The accident happened on a remote railway bridge

Two girls who were killed by a passenger train had been playing on a railway bridge for up to 30 minutes before the tragedy, a court has heard.

The parents of one of the children were sat just yards away "without a care in the world", Swansea Crown Court was told.

Gareth Edwards: 'Didn't know they were there'

Sophie George, seven, and her schoolfriend Kymberley Allcock, eight, of Tre'rddol, near Aberystwyth, West Wales, "died needlessly" after being allowed to play on the bridge.

Prosecutor Leighton Davies said that Sophie's stepfather Gareth Edwards, 33, and her mother Amanda Edwards, 34, had set up a picnic site alongside the railway line on the day the accident happened.

The couple, who deny manslaughter, were in charge of a party of four children and a baby just two miles from their village home at the time.

Mr Davies told the court that the girls were lying down on the railway bridge playing a game of dropping stones into the water when the speeding passenger train ran over them.

Kymberly Allcock, one of the girls who died

The children died when they were hit by a train on the railway line at Borth, five miles from Aberystwyth.

They had been hidden from the driver as they played, despite the bridge being visible from two miles away.

The driver had seen two other children on the bridge and sounded his horn, but the court heard that he saw the girls too late to stop.

Mr Davies said: "There was a sudden horrifying moment when he saw the two girls lying in the gap. It was too late to do anything and he could not pull up for another 500 yards."

Matthew Allcock, aged nine, told British Transport Police that Gareth Edwards had allowed them on the line "as long as they were careful or until he said a train was coming."

He said when the train struck the Edwards couple were sitting nine metres away looking after their baby.

Amanda Edwards: 'Thought they were close by'

The boy said Edwards only looked over once to check if a train was coming and only once told them to be careful.

When interviewed by police, Gareth Edwards said he didn't know the children were on the bridge.

He said: "If I'd known they were on there I would have got them off.

"We would never have given them permission to go onto the bridge.

"I didn't warn the children not to go near the line because I didn't think it was necessary."

Amanda Edwards said: "The children were coming back and forth for pop and crisps. I thought they were in front of us all the time."

The couple, of Tre'r Ddol, both deny manslaughter.

The trial continues.

In a separate development last week, the Railway Inspectorate announced that Railtrack and the Countryside Council for Wales had both been charged with breaching health and safety rules in connection with the death of the girls.

A separate trial is expected to take place at Aberystwyth Magistrates Court in September.