Talented Telford marine died in rail track tragedy, inquest told
A talented Royal Marine form Telford who went out on a Christmas pub crawl died when he collapsed on a railway track near his base and was struck by a train.
The 22-year-old, from Telford, was more than three times over the legal drink drive limit, an Exeter inquest heard.
He was struck by the late night Exeter to Exmouth service in east Devon just before midnight after he "collapsed between the rails", the inquest heard.
He suffered multiple injuries and the inquest heard that the alcohol may have impaired his judgement.
His family claimed that the crossing over the track was in a very poor condition and that the Lance Corporal, who was celebrating passing a course with a distinguished mark, may have tripped over the poorly maintained crossing which was in total darkness.
A colleague joined him for the course at the Commando Training Base at Lympstone from their normal base at Chivenor, North Devon.
Richard Charles said Michael, known as Mikey, was "buzzing" because he had done so well on the course and was heading for promotions and a new posting in London.
Born in South Africa, Michael and his family moved to Telford in 1999, where he attended Dothill Primary School and Charlton Secondary School. At the age of 11, Michael joined the Telford Hornets rugby team. Following on from this he went on to play league rugby and was selected to play for Shropshire county.
The victim's brother Terry said the family had visited the crossing a month after the incident and said it was
in "a state of disrepair". He believes his brother tripped over protruding lips from a metal plate which pedestrians used to cross the line which was in total darkness.
Deputy Devon coroner John Tomalin said Marine Younghusband may have tripped on the track, or the ballast, or the crossing but he could not say because there were no eye witnesses to the incident.
But he said he could not ignore the high alcohol level of 245 mg of alcohol in his blood – the legal top limit for driving is 80mg.
While he returned an accidental death conclusion, he said he would write to the rail authorities about the state of the crossing.
