Northern offers £1,000 reward for name of suspected ‘air gun pellet attacker’

Northern has offered a £1,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the person police believe targeted one of their trains with air gun pellets last week (Monday 22 May).

The incident, which remains under investigation by British Transport Police, saw the rush hour train travelling from Leeds to Bradford Forster Square hit near Kirkstall Forge station just before 5.30pm.

The attack came just days after Northern featured on BBC One’s Frontline Fightback programme, highlighting the case of a driver whose train cab window was hit by a brick in 2022.

That incident was one of 69 Northern services across the North of England struck by objects in the previous 12 months, including 42 bricks, stones and rocks thrown from bridges and railway embankments and 27 ‘substantial items’ deliberately placed on the tracks for trains to collide with, including shopping trollies, pushchairs and bikes.

For the safety of all their passengers and employees, Northern has recently completed the roll-out of 7,000 HD CCTV cameras on its fleet of trains, footage from which can be viewed by British Transport Police in real time.

Tony Baxter, regional director for Northern, said: “It’s very fortunate that no-one was injured.

“It beggars belief that anyone thinks it’s ‘fun’ to target a train in this way. Anything involving shattered glass whilst trains are travelling at high speed can be very dangerous.

“We hope this reward will encourage anyone who knows the perpetrator of this attack to come forward with information for British Transport Police.”

Anyone with information can contact BTP by texting 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40. Alternatively, people can call Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Photo credit: Northern

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