A YOUNG woman jumped onto a railway track as a desperate plea for help, an inquest has heard.

But Kaley Bethel's plea went tragically wrong when she was hit by a train travelling at 80mph through Marden Station last August.

She had attempted to get out of the train's path and had never meant to kill herself, the inquest jury concluded. They returned a verdict of accidental death.

The inquest at County Hall, Maidstone, was told that Miss Bethel, of The Cockpits, Marden, had suffered a "sad life".

Roger Sykes, coroner for Mid-Kent and Medway, said that as a teenager she was made the subject of a care order and went to live in a home. She started to drink and take drugs and had been sectioned three times.

A year before her death she was "devastated" after giving birth to a baby girl who was taken from her through court proceedings and adopted.

Her mother, Eileen, also of Marden, said her daughter used crack cocaine and heroin, but shortly before her death she changed for the better.

"She was trying so hard to get off the drugs and sort her life out but it hit her so hard about the baby," she said.

However, on the evening of August 6, Miss Bethel was recorded on CCTV cameras at unmanned Marden Station. Driver John Wall was driving a train from Charing Cross to Ramsgate, which passed through Marden at 10.57.

"Initially I saw something on the edge of the platform, but I thought it was a carrier bag floating," he said.

Investigating officer PC Calvin Kent, of the British Transport Police, showed the jury CCTV stills that showed Miss Bethel appearing to consult a timetable, then jumping onto the tracks. Shortly afterwards, a train passed her as she stood on the opposite track.

"She then walks up the tracks and continually walks over the live rails," PC Kent said.

"After analysing the film it appears that she actually laid between the lines at one point.

"The last shot is of her on the downline. She puts her hand on the platform and uses the rail to try to get onto the platform."

PC Kent said it was unusual the train received a side impact as most rail suicides hit the front of the train. This could indicate that she was close to the platform at the time the train passed and may have been affected by a backdraft.