A MARRIED mother tragically died by suicide on a railway in December 2019, an inquest concluded yesterday.

Katherine Cocksedge (née McBurnie) died on December 21, 2019, aged 34 at Duck Farm crossing near Burley-in-Wharfedale.

In an inquest at Bradford Coroners Court, it was heard that there was “no way” the train would have been able to stop before colliding with Katherine, and there had been no indication of what she was about to do.

Born in Australia, Katherine moved back to Bradford with her parents at ten months old, and the family settled in Eccleshill where she went to school.

Her parents’ only child, Katherine went on to study Social Sciences at the University of Bradford before becoming a careers advisor in schools.

She briefly left that career to set up her own wedding planning business. Her husband, Glenn Cocksedge, said she planned their wedding and “it was the most fantastic wedding, it was perfection”.

They had first met in 2005 and in July 2011 had a son together before marrying in 2013. They then moved to Idle four years ago.

Katherine returned to working in schools in recent years, which her husband said was what she most enjoyed, first at Immanuel College in Idle, and then at Farnley Academy, Leeds, which was her place of work when she sadly died.

On December 20, 2019, Katherine went out for impromptu after-work drinks with colleagues in Leeds.

Mr Cocksedge said she had text him at 6pm to tell him they were out, which he said had annoyed him as he had work the next morning. She got home at around 2am on Saturday and was still asleep when he left for work in the morning.

He said she texted him at 7am and they exchanged a number of messages, the last contact the couple had with each other.

Assistant Coroner Raja Mahmood said there was “nothing in the messages you would expect to lead to this outcome”.

Mr Cocksedge could not get hold of Katherine later that day and spoke to his father-in-law Bob McBurnie, who she had dropped their son off with that morning, at 10pm, and contacted the police.

On the Sunday morning they still could not contact her and at around midday police arrived at the family home to inform Mr Cocksedge of what had happened.

Mr Cocksedge added: “I had no knowledge of mental health problems except post-natal depression after our son was born.

“She doted on him and any problems we had would have been sorted over Christmas.

“She was a fantastic wife and daughter and will be sorely missed, we are all still in shock at what happened.”

Evidence from Ashcroft Surgery, her GP, revealed brief episodes of anxiety and depression in 2007, 2017 and 2018 which were all treated with anti-depressant medication.

Evidence from train drivers Marcus Robinson and Matthew Smith heard how they stopped at Burley-in-Wharfedale at 12.47pm before moving off and reaching a speed of between 45 and 50mph.

They received a message from signallers, but procedure on messages of this type was to only check when they were at a stop.

They only saw Katherine when they were about 50 yards away from Duck Farm crossing and applied the emergency brakes as well as sounding the horn, but could not stop in time, coming to a halt 150 yards down the line.

Evidence from a member of the public, Mark Robinson, was also heard, after he rang police while waiting at Burley-in-Wharfedale station after he saw someone.

He said he expected the train to remain stationary when he got on but it moved off, and a short while later “heard a thud and I knew what had happened”.

Reaching his verdict of suicide, Mr Mahmood said: “The one thing that remains unclear is why Katherine did what she did, but that is not for a coroner to determine.

“What is clear to me is she was a much-loved daughter, wife, daughter-in-law and she had her whole life ahead of her.

“The text messages are not the sort that – given my experience – for one moment you would ever assume would lead to an outcome such as this.

“Katherine loved her work and it was something she wanted to do for a number of reasons. She loved her little boy, her husband, her parents and all those around her.

“She had not left a note explaining why, so I anticipate we will remain in the dark regarding this.”

Mr Mahmood concluded Katherine Cocksedge’s death was caused by multiple injuries and was suicide.

He added: "Incidents like this not only have a big impact on the family but also on the individual train drivers, and I cannot imagine what goes through their mind when they encounter an incident like this and in the aftermath."

At the time of her passing Mrs Cocksedge worked at Farnley Academy in Leeds in the careers department and had been in charge of organising a trip to Tokyo for around 50 pupils this year.

Principal Chris Stokes said: “Mrs Cocksedge was a much-loved member of staff who worked tirelessly to support students in making decisions about their future beyond The Farnley Academy.

“In addition to this, Mrs Cocksedge was heavily involved in our ambitious plan to take 50 students to Tokyo in 2021 and sought every opportunity to be involved in academy life beyond her primary role.

“She truly was an asset to our academy and will be sorely missed by staff and students alike.”

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