Trial set for track deaths parents

Kymberley Allcock, one of the victims of the tragedy

A couple from mid Wales charged in connection with the deaths of their daughter and her friend will face a crown court trial in July.

Gareth Edwards, 33, and his wife Amanda, 34, from Tre'r Ddol near Borth, appeared at Swansea Crown Court on Friday, charged with unlawful killing through negligence, after their daughter Sophie George, and her friend Kymberly Allcock were killed by a train last summer.

The charges were brought following an investigation by British Transport Police.

A train travels along the same, straight section of track

Mr and Mrs Edwards have both denied manslaughter through gross negligence.

Judge John Diehl has fixed their trial date as 23 July.

The seven-year-old friends died in July on a railway line near Borth, about five miles north of Aberystwyth.

They were struck and killed by a passenger train as it crossed a river bridge.

The collision involved a Central Lines Sprinter train on a journey from Lincoln to Aberystwyth.

Following the tragedy, Railtrack pledged to erect new fencing to prevent the public reaching the spot.

Villagers had campaigned for safety to be improved and warning signs to be erected near the spot where the two girls died.

Railtrack arranged for information packs warning children of the dangers of playing near railway lines were also sent to the village school.