An inquest has concluded that an 11-year-old boy who died after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Croydon was distracted by his mobile phone. Jaiden Shehata, a Year 7 pupil at Riddlesdown Collegiate, was hit at the Bourneview footpath crossing near Kenley on January 23, 2025. The jury also found that insufficient warnings at the crossing contributed to the accidental death.
Inquest details and timeline
At the inquest held on Thursday, September 24, at South London Coroners' Court, senior coroner Sarah Ormond-Walshe heard that Jaiden was struck at 8.03am. The first police officer arrived at the scene eight minutes later and found Jaiden at 8.18am. Paramedics arrived a few minutes after that, and he was pronounced dead at 8.52am.
The jury ruled that the cause of death was that Jaiden "did not perceive the danger of the train approaching, probably because he was distracted by his mobile phone." The medical cause of death was recorded as "severe neck injuries," according to reports from MyLondon.
Coroner's comments and prevention report
Ms Ormond-Walshe told Jaiden's family: "Everybody, everybody, looks at their phone. So please, let that go because every single person in this room does that, and he was only 11 years old. Thank you so much for your dignity. It must have been so difficult." She also stated that she would be composing a prevention of future deaths report following Jaiden's passing, in a bid to stop a similar tragedy from occurring.
Summarising the evidence presented at the jury inquest, Ms Ormond-Walshe said: "Jaiden had been using this route to school since September 2024, four months. He normally walked to school with his older brother, but that day, he was by himself." She noted that, based on testimony from Paul Tickner, a Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) investigator, forward-facing CCTV footage on the train revealed Jaiden had a "glowing object in his hands." The coroner also noted he was not wearing headphones.
Crossing risk assessment and contributing factors
The inquest had previously established that Jaiden was watching an eight-second video his friend sent him on WhatsApp at the moment he was struck. Ms Ormond-Walshe said: "Mr Tickner said it was important to have a change of environment, something distinct when a pedestrian was going across the level [crossing]. He agreed with me that the use of mobile phones was increasing. Jaiden was doing something which was very much normal behaviour by all of us."
The jury concluded that Jaiden died an accidental death. The foreperson told the court: "Firstly, Jaiden did not perceive the danger of the train approaching the crossing, probably because he was distracted by his mobile phone. The second probable cause of the accident was that Bourneview was a passive crossing, which was not fitted with active warning systems giving a visual and auditory warning of the train's approach. A possible further cause was that the design and construction of the crossing could have made it more obvious to pedestrians that they were entering a hazardous area."
The inquest heard testimony from Daniel Fisk, head of Level Crossings and Public Safety at Network Rail, who outlined that the risk level for level crossings is graded from A to M and 1 to 14, with A1 representing the greatest possible danger. Bourneview was rated as C4 - "reasonably high risk" according to Mr Fisk - in its most recent evaluation carried out in May 2023. For a footpath crossing, this risk was deemed "average, or slightly worse than average."
In May 2023, the manager responsible for the level crossing determined that improvements were required to enhance its safety. The coroner noted there had been "approximately one near miss per year at Bourneview." Ms Ormond-Walshe went on to say: "Jaiden died in January 2025. The most recent risk assessment conducted on the Bourneview level crossing was completed a year and eight months before his death. The work was planned for March 2026 - two years, nine months from the time of the risk assessment - and this was found by the RAIB to be an acceptable amount of time to put in recommended changes."
