Woman accused of pushing man under Tube train was 'hyper', says witness

Shocked: Emma Collett returns to King’s Cross yesterday

A witness today described the moment a man in women's clothes was allegedly pushed on to the tracks in front of a Tube train.

Emma Collett said the victim and the suspect, a woman, were "hyper" and talking animatedly before the tragedy on the westbound Piccadilly Line platform at King's Cross station at about 6.30pm on Monday.

The victim, a 63-year-old man from central London, has not been named by police. His next of kin have been informed. A 34-year-old woman was being questioned in custody today. Police said they were still treating it as a murder inquiry.

It is unclear if the victim was transgender or dressed up for a night out. He was white, about 5ft 6in, and wore tight jeans or leggings and an orange or red top, with shoulder-length hair. Police would not say if it was a wig. The victim and his companion were not married and were not believed to be in a long-term relationship.

Miss Collett, 21, was going home to Hounslow from her work at a Clerkenwell architecture practice when she noticed them. Returning to the scene yesterday, she said: "There were only 30 or 40 people on the platform and as I felt the rumble of the next train coming, I heard behind me these two very hyper women who were waltzing on to the platform. They were dressed up as if they were going out, completely different to everyone else at that time of day.

"The women were very excited about something, just laughing, like when girls come out of a nightclub, caught up in their own moment. They were both very skinny.

"Suddenly, the taller woman had her right arm in the air and the shorter one had fallen on to the tracks. The taller one was screaming, she was hysterical." The victim fell across the rails with his head near the wall for one or two seconds before the train arrived. Miss Collett said: "There were no sparks, nothing. It was hard to distinguish from the train noise and the impact. It was like nothing was there when the train went straight over. The first carriage completely rolled over her before it stopped.

"A man next to me grabbed the woman on the platform and said: What are you doing?' and pulled her down to the ground, sitting on her for three to five minutes so she couldn't get away until the police arrived. The woman he was with pressed the emergency button and station staff were there within seconds. It was so shocking, people were close to tears. I couldn't sleep afterwards."

Architect Kaustubh Raut, 30, from Finsbury Park, added: "As I came down the steps all I could hear was this awful screaming. I looked on the westbound platform and there were men and women shielding their eyes with their hands."

King's Cross station was evacuated and the Piccadilly line partially suspended after the man's death. A total of 172 passengers stranded on trains were led to safety through tunnels.

Anyone with information should call BTP on 0800 40 50 40.

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