Penarth woman died after sticking head out of moving train window, inquest hears

Friends were sticking their heads out of the window of a train when one was killed after being struck by an overhanging tree branch, an inquest has heard.

Bethan Roper, 28, suffered fatal head injuries while a passenger on the Great Western Railway (GWR) train which was travelling at around 75mph.

Miss Roper was returning home to South Wales from a day out with friends Christmas shopping in Bath.

Avon Coroner's Court heard Miss Roper and her three friends, Elizabeth Winstone Evans, Chanelle Hagland and Madeleine Owens, had boarded the train at Bath Spa station on the evening of December 1 2018.

The GWR London Paddington to Exeter service was using carriages fitted with droplight windows to enable passengers to use the handle on the outside when they needed to leave the train at the platform.

Investigators told the inquest that the warning label above the window, a yellow sticker with the words, "Caution do not lean out of window when train is moving", was not a sufficient deterrent.

Miss Roper was fatally injured just a few minutes after the train left Bath when her head was struck by an ash tree branch growing on land adjacent to the line.

Miss Roper, from Penarth, South Wales worked for the Welsh Refugee Council charity and was chairwoman of Young Socialists Cardiff.

A post-mortem examination found she had died from head injuries.

Toxicology tests found she had a blood alcohol level of 142mg in 100ml of blood, meaning she was nearly twice the drink drive limit.

The hearing continues.