THE family of Bethan Roper, who died after being critically injured on a train to Bristol Temple Meads, have paid tribute to their daughter. 

The 28-year-old from Penarth was pronounced dead shortly after 10.10pm on Saturday, December 1.  

Bethan’s father, Adrian, said: “Bethan was born in Llandough Hospital in the Vale of Glamorgan on 24th October 1990 and spent most of her life growing up in Penarth, attending Albert Road Primary and Stanwell Comprehensive schools.

“She worked in Cardiff for the Wales Refugee Council, Sobey’s Vintage Clothes Shop, the Coproduction Network for Wales, and Cartrefi Cymru Co-operative.

“She chaired the Cardiff branch of the Socialist Party of Great Britain, and was a Unite union convener.

“Bethan had a big close network of friends with whom she loved to go to music festivals and clubs or just spend time with, talking and laughing. She also travelled the world for six months with her soul-mate, Lizzy, making more friends from around the world. They also went cage-diving with sharks in South Africa several times together.

“She was an avid reader, podcast listener and film watcher, with a deep insight into the world around her.

“She enjoyed life to the full whilst working tirelessly for a better world. She was also a much loved sister, daughter, grand-daughter and niece.

“All of us who knew Bethan have been very privileged. She was beautiful in every way. Our pain couldn’t be sharper or more justified, but I know that her goodness and fullness of spirit will live on in our hearts and actions."

Tributes were also paid to the 28-year-old by the Socialist Party Wales. 

In a statement written by Ross Saunders, Miss Roper was referred to as "patient and helpful".

Mr Saunders said: "Comrades in South Wales are mourning the loss of Beth Roper.

"Everyone who knew her will feel her loss. Beth was one of those rare people who always seemed kind and sincere. People remarked that she was always patient and helpful, always listened to your answer when she asked you how you were.

"She was no push-over either, though. She had steel, and was utterly intolerant of injustice. She was always instantly and unquestionably on the side of anyone suffering under any form of oppression, always ready to defend them, and willing to put her own shoulder to wheel to move things.

She had a penetrating mind too. She’d always challenge an idea or an argument if she wasn’t convinced by it. She volunteered for some time with the Welsh Refugee Council and it is completely in character with her, that utterly without thrusting herself egotistically forward, she became so central to the work of that organisation that they took her on paid – one of three jobs she worked.

"She helped set up a campaign in Penarth to save the local fire station from being gutted of 2-3 of its firefighters. We won that campaign, thanks in no small part to the campaign stalls she helped run, the support gig she helped organised and the other activity she engaged in. She was ever and an activist: fighting back against injustice was part of her DNA.

"She was active in Cardiff Unite Energy and Services branch and was a delegate to Cardiff Trades Council. Both organisations will keenly feel her loss.

"Beth lived her life fighting for a fairer, socialist world and fighting to build the revolutionary party, the political vehicle we need to create that world. In her memory we rededicate ourselves to that struggle."

Miss Roper died from serious head injuries suffered on a train was a charity worker returning from a Christmas shopping trip with friends.

Police believe the 28-year-old's injuries were caused when she leaned out of a train window.

The charity worker and chair of a young socialist group was returning to her home in South Wales after spending the day at Bath's Christmas Market with friends when she suffered the fatal blow to her head.

British Transport Police said its initial inquiries suggested Miss Roper may have been leaning out of a carriage window at the time.

The spokesman said the incident was reported to the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, and that the death was not being treated as suspicious.

An inquest into her death is yet to open at Avon Coroner's Court in Bristol.

Miss Roper was working for the Welsh Refugee Council at the time of her death, having graduated from Cardiff Metropolitan University in 2013.
The charity, a sister organisation to the UK-wide Refugee Council, works to help asylum seekers and refugees in Wales.

She was also a campaigner and chairman of Young Socialists Cardiff, and gave a speech in Cardiff earlier this year arguing asylum seekers' right to work and receive education were being ignored by the UK government.