INQUEST REVEALS SCHIZOPHRENIC TEEN COMMITTED SUICIDE AT MOOR PARK STATION

A schizophrenic teenager jumped to her death at Moor Park station, an inquest heard on February 17. Mugdha Nagrath threw herself in front of a train travelling at 60mph on May 24, 2013. The 19-year-old had been battling with mental illness for years and had discussed changing her medication with a doctor not long before her death. She was unhappy with the side effects of her pills, which included weight gain, and was struggling to cope with them. CCTV footage shows Mugdha, who had dark shoulder length hair and wore glasses, entering the station at 9.37am. She walked around the platform, looking over the edge onto the tracks, a few times until 9.46am. She then put her coat on the floor and jumped in front of an approaching train. Gary Mathias, a fatality inspector for the British Transport Police, attended the inquest and told the court what the driver had reported. The driver saw someone on the platform upon approach and sounded the horn. They saw the teen run forwards and back and it “looked as though she was trying to get the timing right”. She then ran to the edge of the platform again and “jumped down” towards the train. Due to the speed it was travelling, the train did not stop until it was a quarter of a mile past the station. Mugdha, who was born in India, was identified from a provisional drivers licence found in her jacket. Coroner Edward Thomas told the court that Mugdha had been retained under the mental health act in 2010 after she was found walking on the tracks of the underground station. She reportedly told a witness she “wanted to kill herself”. The youngster’s mother Sudha told the court: “Before the incident, Mugdha was insisting on reducing her medication and we both went with her to the doctor. “She was worried all the time about how she would cope with all the side effects. “The illness was the main thing; that is what we were trying to make her understand.” The coroner recorded a verdict of suicide and said: “It seems your daughter was a very clever young lady and her illness set her back. “There is no doubt in my mind that, had your daughter not had a mental illness then she would not have died.”