A COMMUTER told an Italian court that he warned police a station walkway had a hole in it more than two hours before a York woman fell through it to her death.

University of York sociology lecturer Sally Baldwin, 62, sustained horrific injuries in the accident at Rome's second largest station, Tiburtina, in October 2003.

Three directors of OCS, the firm in charge of maintaining the walkway, are on trial at Rome's central criminal court.

Commuter Claudio Valetti told how he had narrowly avoided being dragged into the hole at 8am that day - more than two hours before Professor Baldwin was killed.

He said: "I was on the walkway when all of a sudden a hole opened up in front of me. If it hadn't been for a woman behind me I would have fallen through.

"I was so shocked. Even now just thinking about it makes me realise how close I came.

"As I was grabbed back, I tried to push the stop button but nothing happened, the walkway just kept on going.

"I was being pushed all the time towards the hole because of the weight of people from behind, because they had no idea what was going on.

"Then, for a moment, the walkway stopped, but a few seconds later it started up again.

"When I reached the end I saw a policeman and told him what had happened.

"I explained that I had almost been killed because of a gap in the walkway. I was late for work and didn't stay to see what happened. Then, at lunchtime, I heard how a woman had died after falling through the walkway."

Railway policeman Marco Testiccoli said he was alerted to the problem by passengers, but was told platform 23 instead of the platform involved, 24.

He said: "When I got there the walkway at platform 23 was stopped. I jumped up and down on it a few times but nothing happened and I certainly didn't see a hole.

"I also checked number 24 but that was also still and again I couldn't see a hole, but I had been told it was platform 23 so just to be sure I got some tape and put it around that walkway.

"I was acting on the information I had that it was the walkway on platform 23 that was faulty. I certainly did not see any tapes or barriers by the walkway on platform 24."

The court has already heard that the walkway was under repair and should have been surrounded by barriers to prevent it being used. The tragedy happened only days after Prof Baldwin had arrived for a three-week holiday at her former husband Jack Baldwin's flat in Fara Sabina.

Prof Baldwin lived in St John's Street, York, with her husband, Joe Callan .

After divorcing her first husband of 30 years they had remained close and she had planned to celebrate her birthday with him and another friend in Italy.

The trial has been adjourned until October.

Domenico Leti, 71, and the two managers in charge of maintenance operations, Leonardo Casali, 32, and Luana Lepore, 28, all deny manslaughter and negligence.

Updated: 10:29 Wednesday, May 04, 2005