Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
First the fear, then it turned into my worst nightmare
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A heartbroken mother has revealed the agony of learning her “beautiful daughter” had been found dead on train tracks in Herne Bay.
Hayley Peebles says her heart sank as she found 16-year-old Taiyah’s bedroom empty just moments after reading that a body had been discovered on the railway line.
The 46-year-old had assumed the teenager was sleeping in at their home in Spenser Road, Herne Bay, after a night out in Whitstable last Monday.
But alarm bells started to ring when Taiyah’s panicked boyfriend and best friend knocked at the door the following morning to say they had not heard from her.
“Taiyah normally gets up mid-morning, as teenagers do, so I didn’t think anything of it,” said Mrs Peebles.
“But then her boyfriend Adam and best friend Leah came round and said they had not heard from her at all.
“I went to Taiyah’s bedroom and she wasn’t there. I instantly knew something was wrong as she hadn’t texted me to say she was staying out, as she usually would.
“Then Leah told me that on Facebook it was saying that a girl’s body had been found at Herne Bay train station and they thought it might be Taiyah.”
Mrs Peebles, who lives just half-a-mile away, rushed to the town’s police station in Gordon Road and told officers Taiyah was missing.
“It was turning into my worst nightmare,” she said.
“The police asked me what she was wearing and I couldn’t remember, but officers who went to the scene described her clothes.
“As soon as they said she was wearing a red top, black shorts and trainers, I had a horrendous sinking feeling because I knew it was Taiyah.
“They later found an ankle bracelet on her with her name on it, which confirmed the worst.”
Taiyah’s body had been spotted on the Thanet-bound line at about 6.45am by the driver of the first Ramsgate train of the day. Five London-bound trains had already passed on the opposite side of the tracks that morning.
An inquest was opened on Tuesday, hearing she had been out in Whitstable with friends the night before. As they travelled back to Herne Bay at about 11pm, Taiyah went to use the toilet and became separated from the group.
CCTV shows her getting off the train at Herne Bay alone, with her friends alighting separately and leaving the station.
At some point over the next eight hours she ended up on the tracks, feared electrocuted by a live rail beyond the platform towards Thanet. She was not struck by a train.
Her mum, a kitchen assistant at Birchington primary school, says it is a mystery why Taiyah was on the tracks. “Maybe she was confused after becoming separated from her friends,” she said.
“It is dark down that end of the platform. But they weren’t playing around, as has been suggested, and police are sure no one else was involved.
“I know her friends who were with her on the night are feeling bad and suffering from guilt, but I’ve told them all it was just a tragic accident. No one is to blame.”