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Student killed himself in front of girlfriend

A TEENAGER sent a text message to his girlfriend naming the song he wanted played at his funeral moments before he stood in front of a speeding train.

Craig Ludlow, 16, ended his life in front of Deborah Langer and his best friend at Stone Crossing station, near Dartford.

A post-mortem examination carried out on the teenager, from Morgan Drive, Stone, revealed that he died from multiple injuries. The tragedy happened on August 30.

An inquest jury returned a verdict that Craig took his own life.

The hearing was told that the student, who lived with his family, had been due to enrol at college the following day.

He had been seeing Deborah for about six months and had just returned from a family holiday to Great Yarmouth.

Craig’s mother, Lorraine Ludlow, said her son had suffered from depression, but appeared well on the day he died.

“He received a text while we were on holiday which led to him self-harming by slashing his arm, but his injuries were seen by his GP who said they were not life-threatening,” she said.

Deborah told the inquest that in the text which prompted the harm, she had told Craig that she had met someone else.

By the time the family returned from their break, Mrs Ludlow said her son was fine and had been cheered further by getting better-than-expected GCSE results.

He met with Deborah and his friend of 13 years, Callum Pugsley, on August 30, when he argued further with Deborah. Callum told the court that the pair were still trying to talk things through as they waited for a train to take Deborah home at 8pm.

He said she turned and started to walk back and Craig jumped on to the track. He was struck by the Charing Cross to Gillingham train.

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