Harry Potter star’s brother and pal died in 25,000-volt fireball after touching overhead wires while train surfing drunk – The Sun

A HARRY Potter star's brother and his pal died in a 25,000-volt fireball after touching overhead wires when train surfing while drunk, an inquest heard today.

Ben Haddon-Cave, 27, whose sister Jessie Cave played Ron Weasley's girlfriend Lavender Brown in the films, had been out with Paddy Bolster, 26, who also died on March 21.

Paddy had come to London that afternoon to go to a comedy show.

Later that night, they were both electrocuted seconds after Ben took a photo of his pal while they jumped between containers on a freight train held at Hackney Wick station in east London, the inquest was told.

Ben's body was found on railway tracks a mile from where Paddy was found dead on top of a white cylindrical container.

CCTV captured a "flash of light" just before 1am, as the train moved out of the station.

British Transport Police Detective Constable Vicki Bladen, who played the video to St Pancras Coroner's Court, said shop staff had seen two figures go through the gates of an industrial estate next to the station that night.

'TALENTED & CREATIVE MIND'

DC Bladen said: "At 00:54 hours or just after it will show a large flash of light and then it will show the train moving out of the station.

"As the train goes through Hackney Wick, we see what appears to be a body on the top of the white cylinder."

Richard Tew, who conducted Network Rail's investigation into the deaths, said: "My hypothesis on it is that both individuals must have got on top of the white cylinder.

"He [Ben] was probably the one that potentially got first contact with overhead line because generally from experience and the state of the body.

"The majority of that discharge from the 25,000 voltage system would have gone through one of the two of them as the main route to earth.

Ben, I think, was probably the closest and took the majority of the discharge

"The other person would have got a lesser extent but would have been another route for it to go to earth.

"On the basis of the post mortem reports and what's been said, unfortunately Ben, I think, was probably the closest and took the majority of the discharge and looking at the extent of injuries to Paddy, he would have got a secondary route."

Ben's family said in a statement: "The very last thing he said to Jamie, who was also at the gig but had to leave early, was he loved him – something he would often say to all of us.

"In our view, stepping onto that freight train that night was an out of character decision.

"We believe that he has been depicted as some sort of reckless train surfer but that could not be further from the truth.

"He was a profoundly talented and creative mind."

Paddy's mother Tara Bolster said: "Losing my son in these circumstances has been devastating.

"But what tortures me everyday is playing over and over in my head different scenarios of what might have happened that night, and wondering if anything could have been done to save Patrick.

"It took around 30 minutes before Patrick was even spotted on top of a train and, even then, he was left there for hours until he was finally tended to.

"Knowing that, I'm dismayed that Network Rail didn't cut the power to the overhead lines for almost four hours, which finally enabled emergency services to reach Patrick.

"There will always be a lingering doubt in my mind that Patrick could still be alive had he received medical treatment immediately."

Senior Coroner Mary Hassell said a "fatal flaw" in Network Rail's systems allowed the area to avoid inspection by a track maintenance engineer for at least two years.

The failures were only discovered 10 days ago after she slammed rail bosses last month for failing to provide sufficient information to the inquest.

The inquest continues.

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