Inquest into the death of police sergeant Graham Saville, who died at the railways tracks near Balderton, continues

An inquest heard that a police sergeant was struck by a train after ‘misleading’ information was given to officers attempting to save a man in distress.

Sergeant Graham Saville was attempting to save a person in distress, referred to at the inquest as Patient C, on the tracks near Hollowdyke Lane, Balderton on August 24, 2023, when he was struck.

Sgt Saville, 46, a ‘fantastic dad’ of two, died at Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, on August 29. His family has agreed for the sergeant to be referred to as Graham throughout the inquest.

Today (June 4), the inquest — held at Nottingham Council House — heard that officers PC Powell and PC Stockdale were given ‘misleading’ information by Nottinghamshire Police control room.

The coroner, Mrs Laurinda Bower, confirmed that no contact was made with Network Rail to stop the tracks until 20 seconds before Graham was struck at 7.08pm.

Jack Richardson, who was working as a dispatcher for Nottinghamshire Police, covering the Newark area that evening, was in touch with officers in the evening of the incident and logging details onto the police system.

As the control room received the call that Patient C was missing, PC Powell and PC Stockdale were dispatched to locate him, and after a few minutes, he was found.

After Patient C was located, Graham was also dispatched to the scene as response taser officer.

The inquest heard that Mr Jack Richardson, who was responsible for logging details of the incident and communicating with officers, had not received any prior training on railway incidents.

Mr Richardson admitted that he did not pass on information that he had received prior authorisation for drone use, saying he didn’t consider it ‘relevant’ once officers ‘had eyes’ on Patient C.

At 7.03pm, PC Stockdale asked the control room for British Transport Police to be made aware of the incident, to which she was told that the control room ‘would get onto Network Rail’.

Mr Richardson said that from his point of view, they weren’t to contact Network Rail until the officers were on the actual railway tracks.

At 7.07pm, PC Stockdale asked is British Transport Police were aware of the situation, to which Mr Richardson replied: “My colleague has Network Rail ready to go.”

When questioned about his response to requests from the scene, Mr Richardson accepted that reassurances he gave over the radio “could have been interpreted as misleading by officers” as no contact was actually made until 7.08pm.

At 7.08:08pm, PC Powell told the control room that they needed an urgent stop on the tracks, to which he heard that a colleague was ‘on it’.

In a statement provided to the Health and Safety executive during their investigation, Mr Richardson claimed that we would ‘always’ warn officers not to enter the tracks, however there is no record of such a warning being issued on the day.

It was around 20 minutes since PC Stockdale first asked the control room for contact to be established with BTP, and about a five-minute delay from officers being reassured to contact with Network Rail actually being established and Graham being struck.

Also giving evidence was Mark Broadhead, a veteran dispatcher of 22 years who was working in the same control room.

Mark was the backup caller assisting Jack Richardson on this incident.

He described missing a critical detail in the incident log, a message stating the man was “looking to go over” the gate onto the line, which he said may have influenced his decision-making had he seen it.

He said: “I believe I would have made the phone call then if I had known.”

He told the inquest he used an emergency contact number found in the dispatch system, but admitted he didn’t know which control room was responsible for the stretch of line in question.

He first rang the public emergency number for Network Rail, which he found on his document with relevant numbers. He said he thought it was the emergency number, however, it was the wrong one, which delayed the urgent train stop.

Both dispatchers said they had not received any formal training on railway-related incidents or who to call in case of these sort of incidents prior to Graham’s death.

The coroner heard that new procedures have since been introduced, including clearer guidance, updated emergency numbers, and training materials to help prevent future tragedies.

The inquest continues.