An 11-year-old boy was struck and killed by a train at a crossing because he was "distracted by his phone", an inquest has concluded. Jaiden Shehata, a Year 7 student at Riddlesdown Collegiate in South Croydon, died while crossing the Bourneview footpath near Kenley in London on January 23, 2025.
Inquest findings
Sarah Ormond-Walshe, senior coroner at South London Coroners' Court, told the inquest that Jaiden was "doing something which was very much normal behaviour by all of us", adding that "everybody" gets distracted by their phone. Jaiden was struck at 8.03am, with the first police officer arriving at the scene eight minutes later, finding Jaiden at 8.18am. Paramedics arrived a few minutes after that, and he was pronounced dead at 8.52am.
A jury concluded he died as he "did not perceive the danger of the train approaching, probably because he was distracted by his mobile phone", and added that a lack of warning at the crossing also contributed. His medical cause of death was recorded as "severe neck injuries", MyLondon reports.
Coroner's comments
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 added that she will be writing a report on the prevention of future deaths following Jaiden's death in an effort to stop something similar from happening again.
Summing up the evidence heard 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 said that according to the evidence of Paul Tickner, a Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) investigator, the forward-facing CCTV on the train showed Jaiden had a "glowing object in his hands". The coroner added that he wasn't wearing headphones.
Crossing risk assessment
The inquest previously heard Jaiden was watching an eight-second video his friend sent him on WhatsApp when 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 found Jaiden's death was accidental. 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 from Daniel Fisk, head of Level Crossings and Public Safety at Network Rail, who explained that the risk level for level crossings is ranked from A to M and 1 to 14, with A1 being the highest possible risk. Bourneview was ranked as C4 - "reasonably high risk" according to Mr Fisk - in its most recent assessment in May 2023. For a footpath crossing, this risk was considered "average, or slightly worse than average".
In May 2023, the manager of the level crossing decided that changes were needed to improve its safety. The coroner said there had been "approximately one near miss per year at Bourneview". Ms Ormond-Walshe continued: "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."
