UK war veteran sentenced for leaving car on railway track

A British war veteran has been jailed for four and a half years after driving his car on to a railway line and causing an accident, endangering the life of some 40 passengers.
The 36-year-old ex-soldier caused 500,000 pounds worth of damage by leaving his Vauxhall Insignia on the tracks.
Jonathan Mather left his car in the middle of the tracks at Claymills level crossing, Staffordshire, on July 20 last year.
Roughly 40 passengers escaped injury when the train crashed into the car at high-speed.
CCTV footage released by the British Transport Police captured the moment of impact, as glass and debris can be seen exploding into the air.

Mather, a Balkans veteran, pleaded guilty to maliciously endangering the safety of railway passengers.

He had denied a charge of deliberately obstructing the line with intent to damage or destroy any engine or carriage.
The driver saw the car and applied the emergency brakes, but the train struck the car which destroyed the vehicle pushing it off the track and train eventually stopped 500 metres down the line.
Mather was jailed for 56 months at Stafford crown court and must serve a further 12 months as part of a previous suspended prison sentence for offences of dishonesty.
Sentencing him on Friday, Judge Mark Eades described the incident as a "terrible crime which had threatened the safety of people going about their daily business using trains travelling at high speeds."

He added: "It was fortuitous that no one was badly hurt.
"For all you knew there could have been multiple deaths had the train been derailed."
He said Mather had been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in 2008 and had contact with the Combat Stress charity in 2011 and later, under a community order for other offences, had the opportunity of support.
"The court heard he had been given a 20 month sentence suspended for two years in 2014 for offences of false representation involving the sale of double glazing.
On July 9 last year - just 11 days before railway crossing incident - South Derbyshire magistrates gave Mather a community order for a similar offence.

Mather told police he could not recall anything after leaving work earlier in the afternoon and officers had found various prescription drugs in the wreck of the car.
These included morphine and anti-depressants and tests showed levels in his blood were well above therapeutic use and the level of alcohol in his blood at the time of the incident was almost three times the legal limit to drive.