HALEWOOD

A paedophile was hit by a train on the morning of his trial where he accused of raping a child. Mark Jones, 51, pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault against a young girl earlier this year. The pervert was hit at Halewood station in Merseyside early on Monday morning and was due in court hours later. The British Transport Police say the death is not being treated as suspicious. Jones, of Widnes, Cheshire, indecently assaulted a young girl in the late 1980s, when he was a teenager. He admitted these charges on the basis he touched the girl's genitalia and also made her perform a sex act on him. But he denied two counts of raping the child and eight further counts of indecent assault, which were alleged to involve more serious sexual activity. He was due to go on trial at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday morning. Police and paramedics were called to the station at 7.41am after receiving reports of a casualty on the tracks. Jones was pronounced dead at the scene. British Transport Police added that a file would be prepared for the coroner. His victim had already endured the trauma of reliving her ordeal, when she was cross-examined by defence lawyers in a pre-recorded video hearing. Matthew Corbett-Jones, prosecuting, informed Judge David Swinnerton that Jones had died in a short hearing this morning. The case has now been relisted for September 28, when the indictment against Jones will be marked stayed and the proceedings terminated.