The tragic scene in Portrush on Sunday after Ryan Quinn, was killed by a train on Friday night the line is still closed.

Ivan Quinn leaves the medal he would never have won without his son’s encouragement at the spot where Ryan was killed last Friday

The grief-stricken father of murdered teenager Ryan Quinn has said he will always be haunted by his son’s final words just moments before he was struck by a train.

Ivan Quinn was the last person to speak to his son on the phone before the train struck him, killing him instantly.

An emotional Mr Quinn also spoke for the first time of how he said goodbye to his 14-year-old son with a kiss on his forehead as he lay dead on the tracks.

“I was the last person to talk to Ryan when it happened. He was talking to me from his mobile phone. I’ll be haunted by that conversation. I’m very distraught. I have a lot of things to deal with in my own head. I was the only one that got a chance to kiss his forehead at the scene,” he said.

Mr Quinn described Ryan as his inspiration and said the family has been left distraught by his death.

“We are all totally devastated and are just trying to pull together as best we can. Ryan was one of the most bubbly wee lads I ever knew. He was my inspiration. He was smart and intelligent and was doing well at school. He had everything to live for. He was very close to his sister, they grew up together. She is devastated.”

Ryan was killed as he tried to flee from a gang in Portrush on Friday night. Police believe he had been assaulted at McLaughlin’s bar earlier in the evening and had been trying to escape his attackers across a field when he became trapped in a railway sleeper on the railway line between Portrush and Coleraine.

Unable to free himself he made a desperate phone call to his father who arrived on the scene minutes after his son was killed. It is understood that while the train driver saw Ryan he was unable to stop the train before he hit him.

Mr Quinn said he is struggling to get through each day without his son. “It is unbelievable. This is the worst nightmare you can imagine. That last conversation will stay with me. I am finding this very difficult. I really feel for his mother and my daughter at the minute.

“I am trying to be strong for them.

“His friends have been wee stars, every one of them. They have been giving his sister so much support. The only way I can keep going is by taking one day at a time.”

Yesterday, Mr Quinn, an award-winning cook, left a medal he won in a cookery competition at the scene where his son died.

“Ryan encouraged me to go for this award. He was my inspiration. I just wanted my children to be proud of me. I am leaving this medal here for Ryan. It is the last one I ever won,” he said.

Earlier this week, hundreds of people including many pupils packed into St John’s Church in Coleraine for the teenager’s funeral. Classmates of Ryan’s younger sister, a year nine pupil at St Joseph’s College, formed a guard of honour outside the church, while members of his form class and others pals wept as tributes were paid.

The PSNI have urged anyone who was in McLaughlin’s Bar or who witnessed a disturbance after 9pm on Friday to contact them.

Belfast Telegraph