A "misfortune of destiny" led to the death of a York professor who was mangled to death in a moving walkway at an Italian railway station, a court heard.

Sally Baldwin, of St John's Street, York, suffered horrific injuries after she fell through a hole in the walkway.

Shocked commuters and the 62-year-old's former husband, Jack, watched helplessly as Prof Baldwin was killed at Rome's Tiburtina station last October. A railway worker suffered severe leg injuries as he tried to rescue the sociology lecturer.

Police Inspector Gerardo Caputo told Rome's central criminal court yesterday that the hole had been reported by passengers more than two hours before Prof Baldwin's death. He said: "In essence, the victim died because of a misfortune of destiny. Several passengers had reported seeing a gap in the walkway on platform 24, but when police went to check they found it stopped and they were unable to see a hole."

Insp Caputo said Prof Baldwin's train would usually have arrived at a different platform but was switched to 24 because of congestion at the station.

Domenico Leti, 71, director of maintenance firm OCS, and the two managers in charge of maintenance operations, Leonardo Casali, 32, and Luana Lepore, 28, are charged with manslaughter and negligence. All three deny the charges.

Insp Caputo said emails had been sent from OCS to the station manager at Tiburtina, wrongly informing him that the walkway on platform 24 was working.

Gaetano Cavaliere, an engineer who examined the scene, told the court there had been a series of errors with the walkway.

He said missing panels on the walkway would not have been easily visible to passengers. There were no safety barriers, the walkway power was not switched off and emergency brakes on the walkway were not working properly.

The court also heard that in an earlier trial last year, maintenance workers Massimo Migotto and Sergio Marfut were given suspended jail sentences of 20 months and 15 months for manslaughter and grievous bodily harm following Prof Baldwin's death.

The tragedy at Rome's second largest railway station happened only days after Prof Baldwin, who worked in the social policy department at the University of York, had arrived for a holiday at her former husband Jack Baldwin's apartment in Fara Sabina, 25 miles north east of the Italian capital. She had moved from Scotland to York after divorcing her antique dealer husband of 30 years and she had planned to celebrate her 63rd birthday with him and a friend in Italy.

Judge Roberto Rena adjourned the trial until next month.

Updated: 10:11 Friday, March 18, 2005