PEOPLE are dicing with death by crossing a railway line to get to a nearby beauty spot, an inquest heard.

Dawn Hilton, whose long-term partner Andrew Jackson Warner, 41, was found dead on the tracks near Church last December, told a Blackburn inquest how people often darted across the track as a shortcut to a spot known as the Fairy Caves.

Wire-mesh fencing had been pulled up in the area which allowed easy access to the line, she told the hearing.

Miss Hilton conducted her own investigations into Mr Warner's death and said there had been eight fatalities on the Church and Oswaldtwistle line involving either trespassers or suicides, in the last 10 years, according to safety inspectors.

Miss Hilton told the hearing Mr Jackson, of Nelson Street, Accrington, would not have intended to take his own life.

The pair had an on-off relationship but he had returned to East Lancashire shortly before his death.

Post mortem examinations showed Mr Jackson had consumed four times the legal drink-driving limit before he died.

Miss Hilton said Mr Jackson would often visit the Fairy Caves when he needed to "chill out". She also confirmed he sometimes smoked cannabis.

The inquest heard that car salesman Mr Jackson's body was discovered on the railway line near a canal bridge just after 8.30am on December 16 by train driver Glynn Brownlow.

The inquest heard he had suffered multiple injuries.

An investigation concluded that Mr Jackson was probably fatally injured by a Colne to Blackpool rain, travelling through Oswaldtwistle just after 8.30pm on December 15.

An inquest jury returned an accidental verdict .

Speaking after the inquest, a Network Rail spokesman said: "We are aware that the fencing in this area has been vandalised but we always seek to repair it as safely and rapidly as required."