UK Train Driver Cleared of 1989 Rail Crash

A train driver involved in a crash outside London that killed five people and injured 80 has had his conviction for manslaughter overturned by the UK Court of Appeal.

Robert Morgan's train passed through a red light and collided with another service outside of Purley station in Surrey on 4 March 1989.

The court ruled his conviction was unsafe because the jury was not aware the red light had a history of malfunctioning.

Morgan's legal team presented evidence showing the light had been passed when red four times between 1984 and 1987 and again in 1991.

Morgan was sentenced to 18 months in jail, which was reduced to four months on appeal in 1990.

By Tim McAtackney