Man's death went unoticed for hours

REBECCA FOWLER

As commuters returned from work to Blackheath train station in south- east London last Thursday night, they had no reason look twice at the man sitting on the bench. Only when they returned the next morning and he was still there, still upright, did it become clear that he was dead.

He died at about the time the last train pulled in, and he remained unnoticed for more than eight hours.

He had arrived at the station at about 10pm, half an hour after railway staff left for the evening, and alighting passengers assumed he was either taking a rest or waiting there for a reason.

But when one commuter from the previous evening returned to catch the 6.21am to Charing Cross on Friday, and saw the 52-year-old widower still upright on the bench, he became concerned. An ambulance was called immediately and the man, named as Ron New, of Erith, Kent, was confirmed dead.

It turns out that he had spent the evening drinking with a friend, and had been arrested for drunk and disorderly behaviour. After being seen by a police doctor he was declared fit to go home, and found himself on the station bench.

His niece, Jacqueline Frazer, 34, said last night: "It is very sad that he should have to die like that. It's a disgrace no one saw him at the station. He was so cold rigor mortis had set in . . . It's a terrible way to go with commuters just walking past."