Teenager who threw boy from tenth floor of Tate Modern is jailed for life

A mentally ill teenager who threw boy from of Tate Modern's tenth floor has been jailed for a minimum of 15 years, and a judge warned he may never be released.

 

18 year old Jonty Bravery, who threw a six-year-old boy from the viewing platform of Tate Modern, had been allowed to leave his supported accommodation unsupervised, notwithstanding a catalogue of warning signs that he was both violent, and had serious intentions of killing someone. 

 

The teenager  "shrugged and laughed" after hurling the French boy off the London museum's tenth floor balcony. He was heard telling the victim's father: "Yes, I am mad", and was also heard saying: "It's not my fault, it's social services' fault."

 

The victims injuries included spinal damage and a bleed on the brain, he now requires round-the-clock care,  and it is unclear whether he will ever make a full recovery.

 

During sentencing at the Old Bailey, Mrs Justice McGowan said: "The fear he [the victim] must have experienced, and the horror his parents felt are beyond imagination.". She added that Bravery's autism spectrum disorder did not explain the attack, and acknowledged expert evidence that he presented "a grave and immediate risk to the public".

 

The Old Bailey heard that Bravery's "striking lack of emotional empathy" was "not typical of autism but more typically found in psychopathy". The judge added: "You will spend the greater part – if not all – of your life detained ... you may never be released."

 

Bravery, who had admitted attempted murder, and who is being held at Broadmoor Hospital, was impassive as he watched the hearing via videolink.