Me and my son wouldn't be here if it wasn't for hero security guard at Liverpool Central

A Merseyside mum has described the terrifying moment her son jumped onto the tracks at Liverpool Central station and how a ‘hero’ security guard saved both of their lives.

CCTV footage of the horrifying incident at Liverpool Central was widely shared on social media and accompanied by unsubstantiated rumours. In an exclusive interview with the LDRS, Jennifer Boyle said she wants to tell her story and provide context to what she describes as the ‘worst moment of my life’.

Monday February 12 started much like any other day. Jennifer had been up for most of the night caring for her son, Lee, and was focused on trying to find a pathway through another difficult day.

Lee is a fun-loving 14-year-old boy who has special educational needs and disabilities. He is non-verbal, double incontinent and has no sense of danger. More recently, he has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and epilepsy.

Recalling the scene at Central, Jennifer said: “I’ve gone over and over what happened that day but don’t know what I could have done differently. At the time, he was not able to access education and was increasingly isolated from the community. That morning he was very stressed so, I decided to take him on the train to town because he loves McDonald’s and he loves trains.” However, what happened next will haunt Jennifer for the rest of her life.

After arriving on the platform at the train station, Lee bolted up from his wheelchair and launched himself onto the tracks. Without hesitation, Jennifer rushed after Lee and flung herself over the edge of the platform to grasp him and bring him back up. She said: “I was just freaking out. One of the lines was live so I’ll be forever grateful to the security guard because if my son had put his foot on that rail it would have taken us all out.

“I remember the moment I had to let go of my son to let the guard take over because he was stronger – it was sheer panic. If it wasn’t for the guard, then me and my son wouldn’t be here now. Afterwards, Lee didn’t understand what had happened and was still wanting to go on the train for his trip.”

Jennifer is very clear on Lee’s motivation for jumping on the tracks and she said it wasn’t an attempt to take his own life. The mum-of-two wants people to know the complexities behind Lee’s actions and also how they were more symptomatic of problems associated with his condition and the accumulated strain of not being able to access vital support systems.

She said: “My son is non-verbal so he had no way of communicating his frustration and fear so this presented in increasingly harmful and impulsive behaviours. It’s a difficult thing for me to say, but every day is a struggle to keep my child safe in the community.”

From a very young age, Jennifer was concerned about her son’s development and was eventually told Lee had a chromosome duplication. The are a number of features associated with this condition including developmental delay, intellectual disability, behavioural problems and distinctive facial features.

Jennifer said: “At the time I was getting gaslighted by the health visitor saying I was imagining the problems and it was all in my head. Like so many things that happened later, it was always a case of me being told I was wrong, battling to be heard and then getting services to accept there was actually an issue needing to be addressed.”

The latest raft of problems began for Jennifer in September 2022 when Sefton’s SEN Transport scheme withdrew Lee’s single occupancy entitlement for taxi journeys to school. Jennifer informed the local authority Lee was unable to travel with other pupils – something which was acknowledged in his risk assessment.

Jennifer believes this situation constituted one example of many in which Lee was not given the support he needs – resulting in him becoming depressed and vulnerable to engaging in impulsive actions. She said: “Things build up and reach crisis point. Lee is non-verbal so can’t communicate his frustration and his hurt. He can’t say what’s wrong so that all comes out in other ways.”

As a whole, the picture painted by Jennifer is one of frustration – being ignored, pilloried and gaslit – all to the detriment of Lee’s wellbeing and his access to education and social activities.

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Presently, Jennifer is still struggling to get Lee to go to school and he has been without education and his daily routine for the last six weeks. She said: “My fear is seeing this situation becoming worse which has a big impact on his mental state and I’m just terrified of what could happen.”

Despite everything that has happened, Jennifer is still very complimentary about Sefton’s children’s services as a whole and praises the family’s current social worker who is looking to resolve the transport issues and also provide the family with some respite care. At the moment, Jennifer’s only ‘respite’ is going to work for a few hours a week.

Asked how she copes, Jennifer said: “I just go into survival mode. My hackles are always up because I’m scared of what will happen next, what battles I’ll have to fight to keep my son safe.”

Lee’s mum would like to see an overhaul of Sefton Council’s complaints process and has called on them to value parent knowledge and work with them more to find the best solutions for their children. She said: “We are all human and we make mistakes – my self included – but it’s important to admit them and learn from them and try not to repeat them.”

Responding to some of the issues raised, a Sefton Council spokesperson said: “Sefton Council doesn’t comment on the details of individual cases but what we can say is that we are committed to improving access to Special Educational Needs places.

“The Council is creating more than 100 new school places for children with Special Educational Needs that will mean those children can go to school locally. Places will be across both primary and secondary settings and allow for children with Special Educational Needs to attend mainstream locally and be supported in that environment where they can thrive.”

Merseyrail also commended the actions of security guard Jamie who sprung into action at Liverpool Central.

Suzanne Grant, deputy managing director at Merseyrail said: “We are really proud of Jamie’s actions on the day in supporting one of our customers who needed help. We’d also like to say thank you to Jennifer for her kind words which have been shared with Jamie.”

A spokesperson for Carlisle Support Service who employ Jamie said: “The sign of a good security officer is one that acts instantly in the time of a crisis and Jamie epitomises that.”