Man charged with manslaughter of young mum Kiena Dawes who was found dead on train tracks

A man has been charged with the manslaughter of a mum who was tragically found dead on a train line. Ryan Wellings, 30, who has also been charged with controlling, coercive behaviour and assault, was taken into custody following Kiena Dawes’s sudden passing.

The mum of one, 23, had left her then nine-month-old daughter, Marnie, with a close friend just hours before she was hit by a train and pronounced dead on July 22, 2022. And her brother, Kynan, 30, later called Kiena, from Fleetwood, Lancashire, an “amazing young girl” and said that the “bubbly” young woman had just wanted a “happy life”.

Lancashire Police said Wellings, from Blackpool, has now been released on conditional bail and is set to appear at Preston Magistrates Court on 10 July. A spokesperson from the force added: “On July 22, 2022, Kiena was sadly found deceased by our British Transport Police colleagues on the line near Barnacre.

“Kiena, 23, from Fleetwood, had been reported missing a short time earlier. Following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, we have charged Ryan Wellings, 30, with manslaughter, controlling and coercive behaviour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.”

Kiena’s body was recovered from the train tracks as friends and family conducted a frantic search for her in nearby streets and alleyways. But before they could locate the missing 23-year-old, they got the terrible news that her body had in fact been found just after 1pm.

Kynan said his sister had spent her early life growing up in Cyprus before moving to the UK, and later settling in Fleetwood. He added that she had then trained as a hairdresser and began working at a local shop and had "absolutely loved" her job.

He explained: “Kiena was the most amazing little girl from when she was first born. She was very bubbly, very nice. We moved to Cyprus. She used to speak fluent Greek. She had loads of friends in Cyprus. And then we moved back to the UK as my dad had an accident, which did knock her.

“She was a hairdresser. She used to work at Rory Blair in Fleetwood. She absolutely loved her job, she was really good at it. She loved having a tan. She would go on the sun beds all the time. All the sun bed shops have been in touch saying, ‘We’ll miss her, she used to come in’. She was just amazing.”