Pair face rail deaths sentencing

The children had been played a game on the bridge

A couple convicted of manslaughter after their daughter and a friend were hit by a train as they played on a railway bridge in mid Wales are to be sentenced later.

Sophie George, who was seven, and her eight-year-old friend Kymberley Allcock, were killed after being hit by a train while playing on a railway bridge near Aberystwyth fifteen months ago.

Kymberly Allcock, one of the girls who died

Gareth Edwards, 33, and his wife Amanda, 35, from Tre'r Ddol near Aberystwyth, were found guilty at Swansea Crown Court in July of the manslaughter through gross negligence of their daughter Sophie George and Kymberley Allcock.

The girls were killed by a commuter train while playing on a railway bridge at Borth near Aberystwyth on 29 July of last year.

They had been taken on a picnic by Sophie's stepfather Gareth Edwards and her mother Amanda Edwards with the girls' two brothers and the couple's young babies.

The jury at Swansea Court heard the two girls were later playing in the estuary.

At some point they went up onto the track and were dropping stones into the water when they were hit by a high-speed train.

The Edwards were said to have been sitting just yards from the scene of the accident but facing the opposite direction.

The prosecution at the trial said the couple had displayed "staggering negligence" in allowing the children to play on the line.

Judge Mr Justice Richards adjourned sentencing warning that "all options", including prison, were open to him as punishment.

Sentencing will take place at Caernarfon Crown Court on Thursday.

Civil prosecution

The couple have been on bail awaiting sentence since their conviction.

Earlier this month Railtrack and the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) were sent for trial over the deaths of the two girls.

The organisations have both denied allegations of health and safety breaches in relation to the fatal accident.

After the trial the father of the second girl who died Tony Allcock, said he would pursue a civil prosecution against the couple.