Celebrations ended in tragedy after youth's body was found on track

A lengthy police investigation has concluded 17-year-old Ryan Burns must have wandered along the track from Doncaster station to near Bentley Junction before lying down between the rails. He is believed to have been run over by an early morning train

The inquest into the Edlington teenager’s death heard he had been drinking the previous evening after leaving Catterick Barracks where he had just completed his basic training. There was no suggestion he was unhappy.

His body was discovered between the tracks after it was spotted by a passenger train driver early on Saturday December 2 last year. British Transport Police have been unable to trace the train which actually killed him.

Ryan, of Central Terrace, had drunk alcohol on the journey from Catterick, more at home, and then gone into Doncaster town centre where he continued to drink in the Bar New York.

A security officer saw him at the Frenchgate Centre in the early hours and described him as “extremely drunk but pleasant” and at 3.30am discovered him asleep in the men’s toilets. He was woken up and was last seen walking to the station.

Ryan was said to have drunk at least five beers and two vodkas at home before going into town after an argument.

Blood tests showed the alcohol level in his blood at the time of death was twice the legal driving limit but he would have metabolised a higher level while sleeping.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Doncaster Coroner Stanley Hooper said: “He was probably somewhat disorientated and wandered along the line and then, I am inferring, he lay down and had a sleep,and a train passed over him.

“No third party was involved and it follows this was a tragic accident.”