Trainspotters at war: one threatens to bomb historic railway

PA

A trainspotter sent a number of poison pen letters to staff at the historic North Yorkshire Moors Railway and threatened to bomb the steam line to smear another enthusiast's name.

Nicholas Cawthorne, 50, posted the letters and signed them 'David Luke, who is a volunteer engineer for the heritage steam line, which dates back to 1836 and provides 18 miles of preserved railway running through the stunning North Yorkshire Moors.

The Telegraph reports that Cawthorne, who had a 'life-long love' of railways and often photographed the North Yorkshire trains, carried out the harassment campaign to blacken the name of Mr Lake, Leeds magistrate's court heard.

As a result, Mr Lake was arrested twice and his father, who was in the latter stages of terminal cancer, was also taken into custody.

Prosecutor Marie Austin-Walsh said the letters, which were sent in February and March, were abusive and directed against the management of the railway.

She said: 'Some of them are threatening and abusive, some of them make threats to harm passengers and one refers to a bomb being placed on the railway.'

Cawthorne was revealed as the real letter-writer after he sent letters to the company in his own name complaining about Mr Lake.

Ms Austin-Walsh added: 'In the letters he describes concerns about Mr Lake, saying he shouldn't be working there and they should get rid of him. He said Mr Lake was insulting people there. These were all false allegations.'

Mr Lake said he was 'baffled' by Cawthorne's vendetta against him and spoke of his father, who has since passed away from gastric cancer, being close friends with Cawthorne as they once worked together at another steam heritage railway. He said the pair even used to meet twice a week for drinks.

'To this day I'm baffled as to why he did this to me,' he said. 'He knew how hard I was finding it looking after my father full-time and he made the decision to make my life so much harder.'

'I've no idea why Nicholas would do such a thing, particularly given that he knew my father's condition. The whole thing nearly finished my father off as he had a lot of health problems along with his cancer.'

Cawthorne pleaded guilty to harassment and was given an indefinite restraining order banning him from contacting Mr Lake or North Yorkshire Moors Railway staff. He is also banned from travelling on the railway.

He was given a four-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and to pay Mr Lake £500 in compensation and £85 in court costs.

Ghazanfar Iqbal, mitigating, said Cawthorne, who lives with his parents, suffered a breakdown at the time and wanted to apologise to Mr Lake.

Related articles

Meet Graeme the trainspotting cat

Sign up to our weekly newsletterFollow us on TwitterBecome a fan on Facebook