Teenager hit by train after woman found stabbed in Berkshire, coroner’s court told

A teenager was fatally hit by a high-speed train around half an hour after a woman understood to be his mother was found fatally stabbed in the chest in Berkshire.

Separate inquest openings into the deaths of Mayawati Bracken and Julian Bracken were heard at Berkshire Coroner’s Court, in which assistant coroner Alison McCormick said they both lived in the same house – Chestnuts, in Flower’s Hill, Pangbourne.

Ms Bracken, 56, was found with a "fatal stab wound" inside a Lexus on the A340 Tidmarsh Road at the junction with Flower’s Hill on January 4.

Police were called at about 5.45pm to the scene where Ms Bracken received medical attention but died, the court heard.

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Officers were alerted at 6.15pm to the discovery of Mr Bracken on a railway track near Pangbourne, the court was told.

The 18-year-old died at the scene.

The court heard Ms Bracken was a housewife and went by the name "Maya".

The coroner said: "A post-mortem examination has been carried out and the provisional cause of death is recorded as… shock and haemorrhage due to… stab wound to the chest."

Mr Bracken was a student.

Referring to his death, the coroner said: "Julian died on January 4 2024 at the railway tracks near Pangbourne."

She added: "A male was reported to be seen on the railway tracks and had been hit by a high-speed train."

She told the court a post-mortem examination found the provisional cause of his death to be "multiple injuries".

Inquests into each of their deaths will be held at a later date.

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