Locked away after killing gentle helper
Mentally-ill criminal thought he was in the Hunger Games
A CAREER criminal who thought he was in a Hunger Games film when he stabbed an OAP busker to death has been detained indefinitely.
Mentally-ill Lee Byer, 45, said he killed Tom O’Halloran, 87, because voices in his head told him he was in the Jennifer Lawrence movie series where contestants battle to the death.
Byer had been released from Wormwood Scrubs five days before the August 2022 killing.
He stabbed Tom as the pensioner made his way home on his mobility scooter after busking with his accordion outside his local Tesco.
Byer was sentenced for manslaughter and possession of an offensive weapon at the Old Bailey yesterday.
A murder charge was dropped after mental health reports found he had schizophrenia when he pounced in Greenford, West London.
Byer, of Southall, had 15 previous convictions dating back to when he was 13.
When arrested two days later, he told police: “Murder? I was in prison at the time.”
Tom’s family were in court for the hearing. Grandson Dennis Lintern said in a victim impact statement: “He was a gentle and loving man who spent his life helping anyone he could.”
Sentencing, Recorder of London Mark Lucraft said Byer posed a serious risk and that it was possible he could remain in hospital for the rest of his life.
The judge said: “One can only imagine the impact of the violence towards this gentle man and those who knew him.”