Hatfield rail crash jurors urged to be unemotional

The health and safety trial arising from the Hatfield rail disaster reopened yesterday with jurors urged to put aside any emotional response to the accident in which four people died.

"You must be careful to put emotion on one side," Mr Justice Mackay told the High Court jury as he began summing up evidence in the case, which opened in late January and involved charges against five senior rail executives and Network Rail, previously Railtrack. "What is needed is a clear, cool assessment of the evidence before you," the judge advised, although he acknowledged that aspects of the case might have left them feeling angry.

The key question for the jury, Mr Justice Mackay stressed, was not whether steps could have been taken to prevent the crash, which occurred on October 17 2000. Rather, it was whether the particular defendants - who include two senior employees in Balfour Beatty's rail maintenance unit and three Railtrack managers or engineers - had taken reasonable care in line with their specific duties.

Railtrack itself is also a defendant in the trial, facing a charge of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act, which it denies. However, Balfour Beatty, also a defendant in the case, changed its plea and admitted breaching health and safety laws last month.

The judge also gave his backing to trial by jury, even in such a complex and long case. This is a potentially sensitive issue given that a recently-revived government move to curb jury trials in complex fraud cases has spurred heated debate.

"I believe this trial vindicates those, like me, who believe not only can juries try cases as long and as complicated but they should do so," Mr Justice Mackay said.

The judge admitted his heart "sank a little bit" when he was first asked to take the case about 18 months ago, and "a couple of hundred files were dumped in my room".

"Some people, who should have known better, came up and commiserated, saying 'what a shame' - not because of the 200 files, but because I had to try this case with a jury." They had said it was "much too complicated for a jury". But, the judge added: "They were wrong. You'll probably have guessed I strongly believe the opposite." He went on to pay tribute to the jury: "You have stuck over the months from the snows of February through the heat of the summer, the bombs of July to the leafiness of autumn. Here you are, doing you're job representing the voice of the English jury system."

Originally manslaughter charges were also brought against Balfour Beatty and the five individual defendants - Anthony Walker, Nicholas Jeffries, Alistair Cook, Sean Fugill and Keith Lea. However, these were dismissed by the judge in July and the jury was formally asked to return not guilty verdicts.

The jury is likely to be sent out to consider remaining health and safety-related charges later this week.