A police officer and “devoted mother” who was fatally hit by a train may have been trying to get off the tracks, an inquest has heard.

PC Lianne Matthews, 38, climbed down onto the tracks after fearing she was going to lose her job as a schools liaison officer.

The mum-of-three had previously been fined £1,000 and given a 20-month driving ban for drink-driving and being drunk in charge of a child.

But an inquest hearing was told PC Matthews, based in Roath, Cardiff, “changed her mind” about taking her own life and may have been trying to get back off the tracks.

Her family said they were on the phone to Lianne as she stood on the tracks.

In a statement read to the court, sister, Heather Holsgrove, said: “Lianne called my mother and was on loudspeaker as my mother wanted my father to hear.

“She was crying and said ‘do you know what it feels like not wanting to be here?’.”

PC Matthews told her parents that she was stood on the train tracks but was convinced to go home to her children.

But tragically her parents then heard the hooting of the approaching train and then silence.

The hearing was told Lianne was declared dead 20 minutes after the impact at Energlyn and Churchill Park, Caerphilly, on February 3 this year.

Investigating officer DC Dilwyn Lewis told the inquest that Lianne’s position on the track was not consistent with someone attempting suicide and said CCTV footage shows her facing the platform.

He said: “I think Lianne at the time deliberately went onto the track but I think the contact with her mother caused her to change her mind and tried to get back up on the platform and then it was either mis-timing or she was expecting the train to stop at the station.”

Train driver, Andrew Lee, told the inquest that the 150 tonne train was travelling at 50mph and was given the green signal to pass through the station.

He said: “Suddenly I saw an image in front of me. I thought it was a young person with a backpack.

“We looked directly at each other before impact.

“I tried to apply the emergency brakes but couldn’t stop in time and came to a stop a few hundred metres down the track.”

PC Matthews was facing a police misconduct hearing for “discreditable conduct”.

PC Matthews joined the force in 2006 and her partner Geraint Higgins is a serving police officer as a detective in the same force.

He said: “Lianne was a beautiful girl who had a very caring nature.
“She was the most devoted mother I have ever seen.

“The last text I sent Lianne said how much I loved her.

“I believe alcohol and anxiety caused her to go onto the train line but she didn’t intend to take her own life.

“I will always be haunted by the night of February 3.”

Assistant coroner for Gwent, Sarah le Fevre, recorded a narrative conclusion.

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