A woman who tried to throw herself and her autistic son under the wheels of a moving freight train at a railway station has been jailed for three years.
A court heard Andrea Reid, 53, had been involved in legal proceedings with her ex-husband over his custody which 'became an obsession'. Reid tried to drag her son, 20, into the path of the train travelling at 45mph as they stood together on a platform at Handforth railway station, near Wilmslow in Cheshire.
The court heard she feared his father was 'winning' his bid to have contact with him. Her son, a judge was told, realised the danger when the train driver sounded his horn and pulled his mother to safety just a split second before the locomotive roared past them.
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When police were called to the scene on July 26 last year, Reid was found sat on steps in a 'hysterical state' and told a police officer: ''I know the manipulation and the way its gonna go and I just don't wanna relive it all again."
''Tonight I just had enough, I don't wanna live and I don't want him to live with this life," the court heard she said. "We went to the track and then a fast train came and I went to pull him. I tried to kill myself and my son - some mother I am."
Referring to her ex-husband she added: ''I just feel like he's winning and he's winning all the time.'' The court heard her son was now living with a grandmother. Neither were hurt.
At Chester Crown Court Reid, of Clough Avenue, Wilmslow, pleaded guilty to attempted murder. She broke and down and wept after a judge who told her she had 'a lot to live for' was handed a string of character references from her friends and her local MP, former pensions secretary Esther McVey.
The court heard that on the day, she and her son went to a park before going to a pub in Handforth, where Reid drank four double vodka and cokes before they went to the nearby railway station.
Deborah Gould, prosecuting, said: ''A barmaid at the pub described the defendant as polite but strange and vacant in manner whilst a friend of the defendant texted telling her not to 'do anything drastic'.
''But at 6.30pm the driver of a freight train approached the Manchester platform and noticed two people having what he thought was a tussle on the platform edge. The defendant was seen to pull [her son] towards the edge of the platform and towards the oncoming train but he appears to realise the danger and pulls away, taking his mother back to safety with him.
''The driver sounded a long warning blast on his horn as he would not have been able to stop the train in time had anything occurred. The Crown's case is that the defendant had taken [her son] by the arm and pulled him towards the platform edge intending to pull him into the path of the train and throw herself under at the same time.''
After the incident Reid phoned a friend to confess, the court heard, and police who later searched her home found a handwritten note.
Ms Gould said Reid later told police she just wanted someone to listen and help them. In mitigation, defence counsel Sarah Badrawy said Reid and her son had a very close bond. She said: "The background of what Andrea Reid describes is an emotional and mentally abusive relationship, an acrimonious divorce and removing herself and [her son] to Wilmslow for a fresh start.
"The service of the papers from the Court of Protection was something she always knew was a likelihood, but she did not know the intensity of what those proceedings would provide and the financial cost. It must be accepted that she was struggling significantly emotionally and that her mental health had deteriorated significantly, for someone of her background to make the decision she made on that day."
Sentencing Reid, Judge Simon Berkson said: "This can properly be described as a tragic case. No doubt, following the divorce you have been very unhappy with [her son] seeing his father but it became an obsession, taking over your whole life."
He said Reid did not want her son to see his father, but he had 'expressed a wish' to see him. "What you did next was the most terrible thing," said Judge Berkson.
"Your intention was not only to kill yourself but your son, a son you loved so much that you had cared for his whole life. It seems that his brave actions saved you both from certain death. When police arrived you were hysterical. You went on to tell the police that your ex-husband was winning. You felt that he would not win if you killed your son. That was warped thinking.
"You had left a suicide note and you went on to say that your actions were a stupid mistake related to the problems in your marriage. The impact of your actions on that day have been felt by many members of your own family."
Following the hearing, Det Sgt Graham Marshall-Batey from British Transport Police said: "This was a complex and distressing case for all involved and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the officers for their sensitivity in investigating the incident."
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