Thomas Hurst

Thomas Hurst was found run over by a train shortly after having been robbed.

He was found lying in a dying condition on the line near Bishop's Road, Paddington.

A short time previously he had complained at Westbourne Park (GWR) Station that he had been attacked and robbed in a train from Reading. The inquest heard that Thomas Hurst told the staff at Westbourne Park Station that he had been assaulted, robbed of his watch and £15 in a wallet and thrown out of a compartment although he was said to have not been badly hurt.

He was subsequently seen by a signalman walking up and down the ramp at Bishop's Road Station and leaning over the line in such a position that had a train passed he would have been struck.

When he was found he had been run over by a train going to Edgware Road. He was taken to St. Mary's Hospital but died before he arrived.

His statement initially caused suspicion of murder but in the light of the signalman's evidence which stated that he had been seen leaning over the line it seemed that his story of having been assaulted and robbed seemed inconsistent.

His daughter said that Thomas Hurst had been depressed after his wife had died in 1920 and that he was always very secretive and didn't know anything about his financial position. She said that she had written to him earlier asking him to visit her in London but said that no date had been set and that she had no knowledge of him coming to see her in London at that time.