Why did UK Indian kill herself and her kids?

A woman who threw herself and her two kids in front of a high-speed Heathrow-bound train two days ago has been identifed as an Indian. Moments before the tragedy on Wednesday, the woman, identified by police as 26-year-old Navjeet Kaur from Southall, was understood to have telephoned her husband to say that she was going "far away."

Navjeet also calmly told staff at Southall station, west London, that she was taking her five-year-old daughter Simran and 2-year-old son Aman, to see the fast trains.

According to eyewitnesses, holding the younger child in her arms and gripping her daughter's hands, she jumped from the platform into the path of a 160-kilometres per hour Heathrow Express as it passed through the station.

The mother and daughter died instantly. The son was taken to a hospital in Ealing but died two hours later. The husband, Mangit Sidhu, who is in his mid-30s, went to the station after her call and is thought to have witnessed the aftermath.

He was said to be inconsolable and spent much of the day at the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, next to the station, where elders and friends comforted him.

Relatives said it remained a mystery why Navjeet, who hailed from Punjab, had killed herself and her children.

Neighbours said the couple lived for their children and were always laughing and joking when they walked hand-in-hand at the Dormers Well Park in the Greenford area of Southall. They had moved to the estate about five years ago and had bought a three-storey, 230,000 pounds maisonette.

The brother-in-law of Sidhu, who works for Royal Mail, said the family had been "really happy". "They had just been on holiday over weekend and she was beaming when they got back… It's a shock to us all."

A neighbour whose children played with the Sidhus' kids, said, "They were a lovely couple. They would often go out for dinners at friends' homes and visit the park to let the children play on the swings and roundabouts. I last saw her two days ago. Her daughter was on a bike and son on a tricycle. We would always say hello."

Michael Harrison, Great Western Trains security contractor said his attention was drawn to the woman at the station, who was dressed in western clothes, shortly before she jumped. She had tried to walk from the station foyer to Platform 1, which was out of bounds to the public.

He said, "I asked her what she was doing and she told me her children liked looking at the fast trains. I told her she was not allowed down there and she accepted. She seemed calm and collected. She was a nice lady, very polite. There was nothing out of the ordinary about her. She must have waited until I had gone. I could not believe it when I heard about it. I was devastated."

The shocked train driver will be given indefinite leave until he comes to terms with the tragedy. He will also be offered counselling. He told rail investigators that when he first saw the woman he knew she was going to jump but he could not stop in time.