An eighteen-year-old autistic man has pleaded guilty to attempted murder in a strange case involving a six-year-old French boy who was thrown from the viewing platform at Tate Modern, last August. The boy was a tourist visiting London on a city break with his parents.
Jonty Bravery told police he attempted to murder the boy because he wanted to be on the news in order to draw attention to his frustration over the treatment of his mental health issues.
The man who was 17-year-old at the time was detained at the scene by members of the public and arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. The Met Police said eye-witnesses saw the six-year-old child thrown from the gallery’s viewing platform. A police spokesman said there was “nothing to suggest (the suspect) was known to the victim”. Visitors to the gallery were locked inside the Bankside gallery for more than two hours.
Bravery, of Ealing in west London, was captured on CCTV footage looking over the edge of the 10th-floor balcony, before grabbing the child by the arm and leg and throwing him over the side of the building. He landed five floors down on a flat roof.
Bravery then confessed to a Tate staff member, “I think I’ve murdered someone, I’ve just thrown someone off the balcony.” Mr Bravery told police he heard voices in his head telling him to kill or injure someone.
During the police interview, Bravery said he had to prove a point “to every idiot” who said he had no mental health problems, asking police if it was going to be on the news. “I wanted it to be on the news, who I am and why I did it, so when it is official no-one can say anything else.”
The court heard Bravery, who is on the autistic spectrum, also has an obsessive-compulsive disorder and a likely personality disorder. He has been held at Broadmoor Hospital since mid-October.
The French child’s family said their son continued to require intensive rehabilitation as he had not recovered mobility in his limbs or full brain function. “He is constantly awoken by pain, and he can’t communicate that pain or call out to hospital staff. “Life stopped for us four months ago. We don’t know when, or even if, we will be able to return to work, or return to our home, which is not adapted for a wheelchair. “We are exhausted, we don’t know where this all leads, but we go on,” they added, thanking supporters.
A GoFundMe page raised almost €153,000 (£129,000) for the boy and his family to help with “medical funds”.
“Eye witness accounts and CCTV footage, along with Bravery’s admissions at the time of the arrest that his actions were pre-planned meant he had little choice but to accept responsibility for his actions.”
The eighteen-year-old, who appeared via video link at the Old Bailey on Friday to admit one charge of attempted murder, will be sentenced in February.
Top Photo: P C Robinson © Artlyst 2019