CRIMINAL proceedings may be started following the verdict of the jury at the Potters Bar crash inquest that faulty points caused the derailment which killed seven people on 10 May 2002.

The jury, which had retired yesterday after a hearing which had lasted almost two months, said the derailment of a train to King's Lynn was caused by faulty points.

It said the failure was the result of a failure to maintain or inspect the points, which at the time were the responsibility of contractors Jarvis on behalf of Railtrack.

The Office of Rail Regulation is now to consider whether criminal charges should be brought, in conjunction with the Crown Prosecution Service and British Transport Police.

Expert witnesses had told the coroner, Judge Michael Findlay Baker QC, that the root cause of the derailment was faulty points, and that the standard of maintenance in the area was questionable.

The coroner said he would now be filing a report under Rule 43 of the 1984 Coroners' Rules, expressing concern that there is still a risk of further deaths. He had already criticised the way reports of rough riding on board trains are dealt with today.

He added: "Whatever the causes, the passage of over eight years from the derailment to the conclusion of the hearing of the inquest is indefensible.

"The families are due a public apology, and as the current representative of the system whose abuse has led to this delay, I offer that apology. It feels wholly inadequate, but it is all that it is within my power to do. I hope a line may begin to be drawn, and a sad and lengthy chapter in many lives may be closed."

Network Rail responded by pointing out that contractors no longer carry out routine maintenance, with all such work having been brought back in house.

The inquest also heard from Steven Norris, chairman of the contractors Jarvis, the company which held a contract with Railtrack in 2002 to maintain the line. He had suggested that sabotage could have been a factor, but maintained to the inquest that this had been overplayed by the media at the time.

The court was investigating the deaths of Austen Kark, Emma Knights, Jonael Schickler, Alexander Ogunwusi, Chia Hsin Lin and Chia Chin Wu. They were all travelling in the last coach of the train, which became completely derailed and ended up on its side, wedged under the platform canopy.

The seventh victim, Agnes Quinlivan, was walking under the railway bridge immediately south of the station. She died after she was hit by debris which fell from the bridge after the derailed train had passed over it.

The inquest had also been told that the train was being driven correctly, under clear signals, and travelling at just under the line speed of 100mph (160km/h).