Mitchell Rodgers train death: Police cleared by IPCC

Police cordoned off a path close to the main rail line and station in Belper after the death

Police officers who chased a boy of 16 and shouted a warning moments before he was hit by a train, could not have prevented his death, a report found.

Officers had questioned and then followed Mitchell Rodgers, 16, shortly before he was killed near Belper station, in Derbyshire, on 28 March.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said the officers had "no case to answer".

The report said the boy was unable to react in time to the officer's warning.

'Tragic accident'

After being stopped by police, Mitchell ran off, the report said.

"A male police officer got out [of a passing police car] and started to give chase down the alleyway that the young man had entered," it stated.

The teenager then went onto the rail tracks and it was then that an officer shouted a warning about the train

IPCC commissioner Kathryn Stone, who oversaw the investigation, said: "Mitchell's death is a tragic loss to his family and friends and my thoughts are with them.

"There was nothing to suggest the officers had acted in an unprofessional manner or that they could have in any way prevented this tragic accident."

She added that a family liaison officer has offered support to Mitchell's family throughout the investigation.

An inquest into was opened in April on Mitchell, a pupil at the John Flamsteed Community School in Denby, and subsequently adjourned.