Graffiti artists hit by train ‘killed by love for painting’

THREE graffiti artists killed by a train on a moonless night as they tried to hide were guilty of nothing but a ‘love for painting’, their families said yesterday.

Alberto Fresneda Carrasco, 19, and Jack Gilbert and Harrison Scott-Hood, both 23, were hit on railway tracks in Brixton, south London, in the early hours of June 18 last year.

The three friends had met the evening before to ‘practise their passion for painting’, an inquest at Southwark Coroner’s Court in South London heard.

The area where the train struck was ‘pitch black’ but the trio may have seen the train approaching as they desperately ducked for cover, the hearing was told. Senior coroner Dr Andrew Harris recorded their deaths as an accident.

Speaking after the inquest, the families of the three young men defended their love of graffiti and said they were just trying to ‘make their mark’.

They said in a statement: ‘The “painting community” take their art seriously – this passion is what brought our boys together. In a time full of needless violence, if our sons were guilty of anything, it was their love for painting.’

The driver of the eight-carriage train involved in the incident described his shift as ‘uneventful’ and said he did not realise he had struck anyone.