BRAVE POLICE SERGEANT DIED AFTER TRAIN HIT HIM

An order to stay off rail lines came too late to save Sergeant Graham Saville, who was trying to save a distressed man in Balderton

- By SOPHIE ROBINSON

A POLICE sergeant was struck by a train while trying to help a distressed man two seconds after an order was given for officers to stay off the tracks, an inquest has heard.

Nottingham Coroner's Court heard that two trains, which could have been travelling up to 120mph, were coming from both directions before Graham Saville, 46, was hit on the line in Balder-ton, near Newark, on August 24, 2023.

The inquest was told that Sgt Saville, based at Newark Police Station, was responding to concerns about a man, referred to in court as Patient C, who had called emergency services saying he had taken an overdose.

An order to officers to stay off the line was made by the control room 20 minutes after the first call about Patient C going.

But it was “far too late” for them to get off the track.

Coroner Laurinda Bower said there was no successful communication from the police control room to Network Rail asking them to stop the trains until 20 seconds before Sergeant Saville was struck.