Doncaster rail death: Family's anger after 'sick' photo of man's body is shared by children

The grieving family of a South Yorkshire dad-to-be have blasted local children for sharing a photo of his dead body.
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Kieran Rylance, 21, died last month when he was hit by a train at Rossington level crossing in Doncaster, with the tragedy sending shockwaves through the community.

Now it has emerged that local youngsters have been sharing a photo taken on the night of the tragedy showing Kieran’s body in front of the train.

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And his grieving family have called on parents across Doncaster to check their children’s phones, urging them to delete the ‘sick’ photo to stop it spreading further.

Kieran Rylance, who died after being hit by a train in Rossington.Kieran Rylance, who died after being hit by a train in Rossington.
Kieran Rylance, who died after being hit by a train in Rossington.

His brother James said: “Our family should be grieving, instead we’re having to sort this out.

"I’ve got family and friends contacting me saying me they’ve seen this photo of Kieran in front of the train. It’s wrong, it’s totally sick.”

Mr Rylance understands that the photo was taken by a young girl on the night of the tragedy as police and emergency crews dealt with the aftermath of the tragedy.

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He said: “It looks like she’s leaned over the fence, zoomed in and taken a picture of his body.”

It was initially shared locally among school children in Rossington but is now understood to have been shared further afield, with children across Doncaster seeing the image on their phones.

He said: “We need to put a stop to it. Kieran needs some dignity in death – how can he get it when there’s a photo of his body going around?

"It’s absolutely disgusting.

"We would ask all parents in Doncaster to check their children’s phones and see what their kids are looking at."

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Mr Rylance says his family first became aware of the image circulating at the end of last week.

“It has left us absolutely distraught,” he said. “We’ve not even had his funeral yet and we’re having to deal with stuff like this.

"You can’t have kids of 12 or 13 seeing pictures of a body and thinking that its normal or it is OK – it isn’t.

"We want to get the word out and ask people to stop sharing the photo.”