Australian rugby star died on rail line after night’s drinking

An Australian rugby star was electrocuted and then hit by a train in London after wandering on to a railway line while drunk, an inquest heard.

Dan Robinson, who was three and a half times over the drink-drive limit, was hit by the train at Wandsworth Road station, after he was killed by an electric shock from the live rail.

The 21-year old sportsman, who played for Australia in the under-19s world championship in 2007, had only been in London for two days when he died. He had been drinking with friends in Embankment earlier.

Mr Robinson and his friend Timothy Barrett were on a three-week holiday from Australia. Mr Robinson, who played for Gordon rugby club in Sydney, had been drinking vodka and Red Bull in a Walkabout bar. He and Mr Barrett had drunk half a bottle of Southern Comfort before they went out on January 23, Westminster coroner's court heard.
It is not known why Mr Robinson ended up in Wandsworth at 4am.

CCTV stills show him wandering "aimlessly" around the deserted station before stumbling on to the track.

Pathologist Dr Peter Wilkins said that Mr Robinson would have been killed instantly. He said: "The body suffered extensive deep electrical burns. There was also a deep open wound on his back but that and the multiple injuries, consistent with being hit by a train, would have occurred after he was already dead."

He added that Dan had 273 decilitres of alcohol in his blood.

Coroner Paul Knapman said: ""He was three and a half times over the legal limit for driving but like most young people on holiday he would have been in an exuberant mood.

"Perhaps he didn't realise that tracks in this country are always live." He recorded a verdict of accidental death.

His mother Chris, who flew from Sydney for the inquest, wept as she said: "We just want to know what happened to him.

"We hope that this will jog someone's memory so we can piece together his last few hours. He was such a lovely, great person."