Teenager hurled six-year-old off balcony then laughed and blamed social services
Autistic Jonty Bravery, 18, left child disabled to ‘prove a point’ to authorities about the care he wanted
THE teenager who threw a six-year-old from a viewing platform at the Tate Modern laughed and told the child’s father “Yes, I am mad” before blaming social services, a court has heard.
Jonty Bravery, 18, who is autistic, has admitted attempted murder after scooping up the boy in front of his parents last August and hurling him over railings “without any hesitation”.
A sentence hearing at the Old Bailey heard that he planned the attack “well in advance” and researched the easiest way to kill someone, as he had been “seriously unhappy” and wanted to get out of his supported accommodation.
Deanna Heer, prosecuting, said: “He said he had to prove a point to ‘every idiot’ who had ever said he did not have a mental health problem, that he should not be in the community.”
She said Bravery was under one-onone supervision with Hammersmith and Fulham social services at the time of the attack, but was allowed to go out unaccompanied for four-hour periods.
A recording taken by one of his care workers in autumn 2018, in which he discusses his plans to kill somebody by pushing them off a building, suggests that opportunities to stop him were missed.
Philippa Mcatasney, defending, said “it beggars belief ” that he was deemed suitable to go out unsupervised on the day of the attack.
Bravery is being held at Broadmoor Hospital, where he is under one-onone observation and has to be moved around the secure unit in restraints.
A report into his behaviour written after the incident found his “callousness” and “striking lack of emotional empathy” was more typical of psychopathy than autism.
On Aug 4 last year, Bravery went to the Shard, where he inquired about buying a ticket for the viewing area, but did not have enough money.
He later admitted asking “where the next-highest building was” before walking to the Tate Modern.
Ms Heer said the victim was skipping a little ahead of his parents on the gallery’s viewing platform. CCTV caught Bravery, then 17, picking him up, carrying him to the railings and throwing him off. He fell headfirst.
Bravery “sniggered” and had “a big smile on his face” when witnesses challenged him. Asked why he did it, he said: “It’s a long story” and “it’s not my fault, it’s social services’ fault”.
He smiled, arms raised. At one point, he appeared to shrug and laugh.
Ms Heer said the boy’s father thought it was a joke until he saw his son’s distorted body. He challenged Bravery, who told him: “Yes, I am mad.”
The boy’s mother, “increasingly hysterical”, tried to climb over the railings to reach her son. Staff held her back.
The boy spent more than a month in hospital before being discharged to a hospital in France. He remains in a wheelchair and will need 100 per cent care until at least August 2022. It is not known if he will ever fully recover.
Bravery was sectioned and taken from home aged 16. He spent six weeks in a mental health facility then was put in a flat in west London, under the responsibility of social services.
The council subcontracted the work to private care firm Spencer and Arlington. It reportedly assigned up to six full-time carers who worked in pairs.
Dr Joanna Dow, a psychiatrist at Broadmoor, told the court Bravery should be kept in hospital rather than prison and said it was “hard to envisage” him returning to the community.
A serious case review is due to be published in the autumn. Mrs Justice Mcgowan will sentence Bravery today.