A young woman who survived a train smash suicide pact which killed her troubled lover has described how she escaped death by inches.

 

 

After a spate of bad luck, 19-year-old Darren Baker convinced his girlfriend Kirsty Mortimer, 22, that they should die together.

 

 

The desperate pair held hands as they stepped into the path of the oncoming train but Kirsty lost her nerve at the last minute and tried to pull away, only to be hauled on to the track by her boyfriend.

 

 

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The engine smashed into them at 55mph leaving Darren with fatal injuries and Kirsty, who was 21 at the time, fighting for her life.

 

 

But the train hit them a glancing blow, rather than run over them which would probably have killed her as well as her boyfriend.

 

 

 

Kirsty woke up in intensive care with a stomach wound which needed 78 staples to close, a broken knee and a smashed ankle.

 

 

 

Still recovering from her brush with death, Kirsty, from Halifax, West Yorkshire, described how she had agreed to the suicide pact to prove her love to Darren after a series of bitter rows.

 

 

"Darren could be very jealous and possessive over me but I still loved him with all of my heart," she said.

"On that day we had just been refused financial help from the council which hit Darren really hard."

"We were walking and he stopped and said 'Why are you always fighting with me? You say you'd do anything for me.'

"I told him how much I loved him and that I would do anything for him so he asked me to follow him to the train track.

"We knew what we were doing. We had no money, no job, no real home, so we both wanted to end it all and go to a better place.

"When we were walking along the track I felt happy that Darren would finally realise how much he meant to me - if he was going to die, I wanted to die too."

 

 

 

 

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Darren led Kirsty, who was 21 at the time, towards the tunnel so they wouldn't be disturbed.

But before they reached it the train hurtled towards them at 55mph.

As it bore down on them, Kirsty suddenly had the sickening realisation that she wasn't ready to die.

She said: "I know Darren wanted to kill himself and I wanted to die with him. When I saw the train coming I lost my nerve and pulled away.

 

 

 

"But he pulled us back towards the train. I don't remember the moment the train hit us both."

The 4.45pm Northern Rail service from Leeds to Brighouse dealt the duo a "glancing blow" as it emerged from Wyke tunnel in Bradford on April 5, 2007.

Darren had a weak pulse and shallow breathing at the scene and died in the ambulance on the way to Bradford Royal Infirmary.

Kirsty said she was devastated by her boyfriend's death and is struggling to come to terms with the tragedy.

"I woke up in intensive care with a smashed ankle, a broken knee, a pot from my ankle to my hip and a brace on my other knee," she said.

"The flesh in the middle of my stomach had been ripped off so doctors had to staple the skin from the bottom half and the top half together with 78 staples. I was in agony."

She went on: "When I came round all I wanted was to be with Darren. I just wanted to see him again, talk to him again and hug him one last time.

"At that point I wished I'd died with him.

"I've tried to make sense of things. I keep asking myself over and over if I could have done things differently.

"Despite our problems, I will never ever forget what a kind and loving boyfriend he was.

She added: "For a long time I wished I'd died with Darren, but now I'm thankful I'm still here.

"My mum has been fantastic and really helped me start rebuilding my life again."