Connor Marron death: Student was soaking and shoeless when hit by train

The parents of a student who was found "soaked from the waist down" and without shoes after he was hit by a train in north London have said they may never know what happened.

Connor Marron, 19, from Ahoghill, Co Antrim, had been at the PDC World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace with a friend before he was killed in the early hours of 2 January.

He was discovered near Hornsey station about an hour later.

An inquest returned an open verdict.

Senior coroner Andrew Walker will issue a Prevention of Future Deaths report to Thames Water and Network Rail.

The inquest heard it was Mr Marron's first time visiting the capital and he had been drinking with a friend before and during the quarter-final on New Year's Day.

While leaving the darts event, Mr Marron discovered his phone was lost and left his friend to find it.

He was reported missing hours later but had been hit by an empty stock train at 48mph just north of the station.

North London Coroner's Court could not determine what happened between when Mr Marron left his friend and the collision, as CCTV could not shed any light on the final hour of his life.

The inquest heard that Mr Marron may have passed through the New River - a nearby waterway - and a gap in a railway fence, before trying to cross the tracks.

Speaking to BBC NI's Evening Extra programme, his parents, Fergal Marron and Sharon Doherty, said they were "condemned to a lifetime of not knowing what happened to our beloved son".

His mother said the police knocked on the door at 4am and "every parent's worst nightmare" unfolded, as she came downstairs behind her partner.

She said: "As I made my way down the stairs all I could hear was an officer saying: 'Are you Connor Marron's daddy?' and Fergal said: 'Please don't tell me he's dead.'"

The officers told them "in those early exchanges" that their son had been hit by a train - but the couple say many questions remain unanswered.

Mr Marron said one those questions was about what happened to Connor's jeans and trainers.

"I had to view the footage of my son in front of a train to prove that he's not wearing footwear," he said. "I knew if I didn't take that opportunity it would be in my head for the rest of my life."

Two days before the inquest opened, Mr Marron said, another question arose in relation to court papers containing evidence from one of the members of the medical team who tried to save his son.

"She was the only person that remarked Connor was soaking wet from the waist down and bone dry from there up," he said, adding that "it never came out of a policeman's mouth that this was the condition they found our son in".

He also wants to know why footage was only recovered from three cameras of the 82 he says cover Alexandra Palace.

The parents do not believe their son's death was an accident or misadventure, so the open verdict was "the verdict we wanted".

Mr Marron added: "For our son to finish up going through a river and across a railway track, he had to be going away from something."

The coroner has a legal power and duty to write a report following an inquest if it appears there is a risk of other deaths occurring in similar circumstances.

This is also known as a "report under regulation 28" because the power comes from regulation 28 of the Coroners (Inquests) Regulations 2013.

The report is sent to the people or organisations who are in a position to take action to reduce the risk. They then must reply within 56 days to say what action they plan to take.

At the inquest, coroner Mr Walker said there ought to be sufficient lighting and signage to warn pedestrians about the body of water, adding that adequate signage should also be provided for the railway fence.

A British Transport Police spokesperson said officers were "satisfied there were no suspicious circumstances" but an independent review had been launched into the handling of the case and the coroner's findings.

The BTP spokesperson added: "Every death on the railway is a tragedy, and our thoughts remain with the Marron family as the inquest into their son's untimely death has concluded.

"To date, there is still no evidence that Mr Marron was the victim of a crime or that there were any suspicious circumstances to his death."

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