Death By Misadventure

Inquest finds Chiswick teen Sam Grffiths died from electric shock from live rail

In inquest into the death of a Chiswick teenager has heard how he died from a fatal electric shock.

16 year old Sam Griffiths fell onto live tracks at Burgess Hill station on New Year’s Eve just minutes after speaking to his father over the telephone and was electrocuted. His father, Ian Griffiths, told the inquest the last words he heard from his son were ‘Dad, I love you’. “It was clear that he was at one with himself,” he added.

Sam had been seeing in the New Year with school friends from Hurstpierpoint College before the accident happened. Toxicology tests showed that he had been significantly under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident although no other drugs were detected in his system.

After recording a verdict of death by misadventure, the coroner said she hoped that the publicity surrounding Sam’s case would serve as a caution to others and highlight the dangers of live rails.

The Griffiths family issued a statement following the inquest saying that they “want to find a way to move forward that pays tribute to his kind and loving nature and his spirit of fun and adventure.”