Trespasser 'hell bent' on escaping police jailed after delaying 921 trains and costing Network Rail £1.2m

A motorcyclist who ran across the South Western Main Line as he fled police, delaying 921 trains and causing delays that cost Network Rail £1.2 million, has been jailed.

Kingston Crown Court heard how Ryan Seymour ignored police warnings not to climb over a fence between New Malden and Berrylands on August 19 2024.

The 40-year-old had been spotted by officers riding a motorbike without a number plate, leading to a pursuit. He failed to stop, before trying to get away on foot after being knocked off his bike in a tactical stop.

At his sentencing hearing on February 4, the court was told Seymour ran across all four tracks and “absconded into the bushes”.

Prosecutor Joe Collins told the court that a train travelling at 75mph was in the section at the time, and that Seymour’s actions forced the driver to perform an emergency stop. He was not found until August 22, when he was arrested at a nearby address.

Collins told the court that due to “concerns the defendant may still be on the tracks... power was suspended for a number of hours”.

In police bodycam footage, an officer could be heard shouting: “Mate, don’t go onto the track. Don’t go onto the track. Control, he’s on the track.”

A business impact statement read out by the prosecution said the disruption to 921 trains totalled 13,178 minutes, costing Network Rail £1,264,841 in compensation.

Hundreds of passengers were left stranded at London Waterloo as a result of Seymour’s actions, as disruption continued throughout the rest of August 19.

Dickon Edwards, representing Seymour, said the 40-year-old did not intend to cause so much disruption on the railway and could not foresee the extent of the delays. He described his client’s actions as “reckless and brief”.

The judge, His Honour Mark Milliken-Smith KC, said anyone could have foreseen there would be disruption, noting the defendant “didn’t care, he was hell bent on escape”.

Seymour argued that he didn’t run across the railway, but merely walked alongside the track. However, the judge commented that the disruption was still the same.

The defendant admitted four offences in total: intentionally/ recklessly causing a public nuisance (the trespass offence), dangerous driving, riding a motorbike without a licence, and riding a motorbike without insurance.

Judge Milliken-Smith jailed Seymour, of no fixed abode, for eight months for the trespass offence, and ten months for dangerous driving, to run consecutively in an overall jail term of 18 months.

Seymour's trespassing led to third rail power being cut until 4.30pm.

Network Rail confirmed the 921 affected trains were spread across 17 different operators, with around 358 services completely cancelled and 81 partly cancelled. 

Tom Desmond, Network Rail’s Operations Director for the Wessex Route, said: “This prosecution demonstrates that there are severe consequences for those who trespass on the railway.

“This individual was very lucky to escape unharmed, with the risk of both trains travelling through the area at nearly 100mph as well as the threat of the third rail, which carries enough voltage to kill.”