TWO people committed suicide at an Oxfordshire train station two days apart in unrelated incidents.

Lisa Wright and Richard Burke climbed on to the tracks and stood in front of oncoming trains at Radley, near Abingdon, in June, Oxfordshire Coroner’s Court heard at Old County Hall on Wednesday.

Miss Wright, who lived just yards from the station in Stonehouse Crescent, was described by her brother as “a beautiful girl” who suffered badly from depression. The 37-year-old former cleaner had lost her job earlier in the year and was made homeless in March before going to live with her brother in the village.

Having been sectioned twice under the Mental Health Act, diabetic Miss Wright was said by Dr Andrew Molodynski to be “trying really hard to make progress” before she ended her life on June 4.

Her brother John Wright told the court: “I tried seeing the better things, but obviously she was ill.”

Miss Wright’s mother confirmed to the court her daughter had previously made an unsuccessful suicide attempt.

Mr Wright added: “I started to believe she was getting better because she was making journeys to the village shop and she took my little boy to the park, so we thought she was on the up.”

Train driver Sheikh Kharas said in a statement read to the inquest the 13.10 from Great Malvern to Paddington was not scheduled to stop at Radley and would have been travelling at 90mph just moments before hitting Miss Wright.

He said: “She stood on the track, one leg either side of the rail.

“She just stood there and looked right at me and the train.”

Coroner Nicholas Gardiner said: “Clearly she suffered many years of illness and on that Sunday she went to Radley train station and did so with the full intention of taking her own life.”

Outside court, Mr Wright described his sister as a “real tomboy” who loved the outdoors.

He said: “She was a beautiful girl, but she wasn’t well, she was burnt out.

“She used to say ‘John, I haven’t got anything, I’ve lost my confidence’.”

Two days later, on June 6, 51-year-old Richard Burke, from Leamington Spa, also ended his life at the same station by standing in front of another non-stopping train at about 3.20pm.

His inquest heard he had been an alcoholic for 25 years and suffered liver problems.

Mr Gardiner recorded a verdict of suicide but ruled out any link with the events of two days earlier.

He said: “Radley is not one of the most at-risk stations in the county.

“It’s not quite clear why he chose to go to Radley.”