Mum praises rail security guard who saved her son

Jennifer Boyle with her son before he jumped onto the tracks at Liverpool Central Station

A mother has described the terrifying moment her son jumped onto the tracks at an underground railway station and how a "hero" security guard saved both of their lives.

Jennifer Boyle recalled the "worst moment of my life", which saw CCTV footage of the incident at Liverpool Central widely shared on social media.

Ms Boyle described her son Lee as a fun-loving 14-year-old boy who has special educational needs and disabilities.

A spokesman for Carlisle Support Service, which employs the security guard, whose name was given as Jamie, said: “The sign of a good security officer is one that acts instantly in the time of a crisis and Jamie epitomises that.”

Ms Boyle said: “I’ve gone over and over what happened that day but don’t know what I could have done differently."

'Line was live'

Ms Boyle said her son was very stressed on the day of the incident on on 12 February, and so she decided to take him on the train to town but what happened next will "haunt" her for the rest of her life.

The 14-year-old left his wheelchair and went onto the tracks after arriving on the platform at Central, she said.

Ms Boyle rushed after her son and went over the edge of the platform to try to grasp him and bring him back up. “I was just freaking out," she said.

“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.

Jennifer Boyle says the incident was the "worst moment of my life"

“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.”

She said she was very clear on her son's motivation for jumping onto the tracks and he was not trying to take his own life.

The mum-of-two said she wanted to explain the complexities behind his actions adding: “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.”

Suzanne Grant, deputy managing director at Merseyrail also commended the security guard who sprung into action at Liverpool Central, adding she was "really proud" of his actions.

She added: We’d also like to say thank you to Jennifer for her kind words which have been shared with Jamie.”