Overview
- Seventeen-year-old Gomeroi teenager Mark Haines was found dead on railway tracks near Tamworth on January 16, 1988 and an autopsy recorded a traumatic head injury.
- A fresh coronial inquest that sat for 24 days between April 2024 and October 2025 ended with Grahame handing down findings on June 18, 2026 but delivering no definitive explanation for how Haines died.
- The coroner said the death was not proven to be self-inflicted and that she remained confident in the evidence heard while regretting there was 'no breakthrough' for the family.
- Counsel assisting and the coroner identified substantial failures in the original 1988 police work, including poor evidence collection at the scene, rapid removal of the body and train, lack of detective involvement, and delayed interviews with family.
- Grahame said it is highly likely people in the community hold information that has not been shared and recommended the evidence be referred to NSW Police for further investigative work, a step that could prompt new enquiries and community outreach.