Suicidal businessman succeeds on second try

A SUICIDAL businessman who escaped uninjured when a 100mph train ran over him, picked up his briefcase and calmly went to another station to kill himself.

Commuters watched the smartly-dressed man jump from the platform in front of anoncoming Intercity 125 train.

He curled up into a ball waiting to be hit but landed between the rails and all ten carriages of the train passed over him.

The startled passengers who had begun dialling 999, watched as the father-of-two then got up off the track, picked up his briefcase, clambered back onto the platform and calmly walked away.

Police, who were called to the station at Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, began a search for the failed suicide victim but he had disappeared.

Three hours later, a train driver travelling at 100mph towards the station at nearby New Barnet, saw the same businessman calmly walk down the ramp onto the tracks and turn his back on the express as it thundered towards him.

The 45-year-old man was killed instantly in full view of the helpless driver who could not stop in time.

Police said the man was a married and lived in Potters Bar.

A British Transport Police spokesman said: "It appears that having failed in his suicide bid at the station in Potters Bar, he tried again three hours later at New Barnet.

"We are satisfied that this was a deliberate suicide and investigations are being carried out on behalf of the coroner."

The first incident occurred at about 2pm on Thursday and he was struck by the second train at about 5:30pm.