Teenager pushed woman in front of train after absconding from mental health facility

A teenager who had absconded from hospital tried to murder a young woman by shoving her in front of a moving train.

Andrew Wason, 19, attacked the stranger who landed onto the tracks miraculously avoiding death.

Wason had turned up at Hyndland train station in Glasgow’s West End having gone AWOL from nearby Gartnavel Hospital where was being treated for mental health issues.

CCTV footage of the crime was shown at the High Court in Glasgow.

The images showed that the victim was milliseconds from being struck by the train.

The court was further told that the woman thought she was going to die and that the driver believed that he had killed her.

First offender Wason pleaded guilty to a single charge of attempted murder.

The court heard that Wason was detained in hospital at the time due to mental health legislation.

He had been removed from constant observations due to an “improvement” in his mental health.

However, any time he left the ward, Wason was to be accompanied by a member of staff and not be on his own.

Around 5pm, Wason refused dinner and was allowed to go back to his room by a nurse.

The victim attended the nearby station which was busy for a train which was running late.

Prosecutor Chris McKenna said: “Wason absconded from the hospital and made his way to the station, walking and jogging.”

He was noted to pace up and down the platforms as trains went by.

Wason walked back to the courtyard of the hospital before he returned to the station where the woman was standing.

Mr McKenna said: “A train was arriving at the station and as it approached Wason’s pace quickened as he made his way to where [the victim] was standing.”

The pair stopped and looked at the train while Wason was stood behind the woman.

Mr McKenna added: “As the train pulled into the platform, at the precise moment it was to pass [the victim], Wason forcefully pushed her with two hands to the back between her shoulders.

“The push was directly into the path of the oncoming train.

“She fell forward onto the track screaming as the train continued to approach. She thought she was going to die.”

The woman was able to scramble her legs out of the way of the train.

Mr McKenna said: “The train missed hitting her by the closest of margins before it came to a halt.”

Wason walked away while watching the victim on the track before he was chased by a member of the public.

The driver put the train into “emergency” mode.

Mr McKenna added: “He thought that the train had struck and killed her.”

The victim was noted to be “visibly distressed, shaking, crying and completely overwhelmed.

Wason went back to the hospital meantime where he told a nurse what he had done.

When asked why he did it, he replied: “She was closest to me.”

He further stated that to police who arrested him that he was “overwhelmed with the surrounding noise”.

The victim was taken to hospital where she was found to have suffered bruising to her left thigh, scratches to her hands and swelling to her face.

She reported in her victim impact statement that she had “excessive bruising and swelling that will not go away.”

Allan Macleod, defending, told the court: “He is a man who was very unwell and was unwell when this took place.”

Judge Lord Matthews granted an interim compulsion order which means Wason will be kept in the state hospital pending further reports from psychiatrists.

The matter will call again in July at the High Court in Glasgow.