Major update about man who threw boy, 6, off Tate Modern
A man who hurled a six-year-old boy off the 10th floor of the Tate Modern has been convicted of attacking two nurses at Broadmoor Hospital.
Jonty Bravery was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 15 years after pleading guilty to attempted murder in wake of the horror incident in August 2019. He picked up a young French boy who was visiting London with his family and threw him over the side of a 100ft balcony in the Tate Modern art gallery in the UK capital.
The child miraculously survived but was left with 'catastrophic' injuries, including a bleed on the brain and several broken bones.
Sharing an update on his recovery last month, his family explained that the little lad has made significant progress but still can't live life 'like other children his age'.
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Bravery, who is autistic and has a personality disorder, has been held at Broadmoor since October 2019.
He has now been found guilty of launching two vicious attacks on female nurses at the high-security psychiatric hospital in Berkshire last year.
The 24-year-old chose not to attend his trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (27 November), while Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring ruled he had 'deliberately absented himself' from the case.
In September last year, Bravery assaulted nurses Kate Mastalerz and Linda McKinlay as they attempted to restrain him - and he responded by 'clawing' at the latter's face.
Prosecutor Tom Heslop told the court how Bravery has to be monitored '24 hours a day, seven days a week' by three members of staff, and that his room only has a mattress in it.
He asked to go to the bathroom at around 9.30pm on the evening of the attack, before then 'attempting to climb a ledge' with the intention of 'throwing himself from it'.
Mr Heslop explained that Mastalerz and McKinlay were among the nurses who tried to restrain him.
They put him on his mattress before turning him onto his back, only for Bravery to 'kick out towards' Mastalerz, striking her in the thigh.
The court heard how he then 'clawed across' McKinlay's face, leaving blood dripping down her cheek.
The incident was captured on body-worn cameras which showed the nurses struggling on the floor with Bravery before other staff rushed into the room to help.
One panicked staff member could be heard shouting: "Jesus Christ, do something!"
McKinlay explained that the incident, which resulted in her being taken to hospital for treatment, was the first time that she had been attacked at Broadmoor in her entire career.
"Jonty climbed up trying to get on to the windowsill," she told the court. "We were trying to coax Jonty down. We didn’t want him to hurt himself.
"He was screaming and shouting and kicking. We shouted for assistance."
Describing her injuries, the grandmother said: "He attacked my face, he was clawing at my face. My eye and my face were all scratched. In the aftermath I was very shaken.
"In all my years of being in Broadmoor I’ve never been attacked."
Her colleague Mastalerz was left with a bruised thigh in wake of what she described as a 'very stressful situation'.
She explained she started 'shouting for help' when Bravery began lashing out at her and her fellow nurse.
Finding him guilty of both charges, Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring concluded that Bravery 'went too far'.
He adjourned sentencing the 24-year-old until 8 January and asked for an update on his current mental health condition.
In 2020, Bravery was jailed for another 14 weeks after admitting punching nursing assistant Sarah Edwards in the head and face before pulling her hair and biting rehabilitation therapist assistant Maxwell King.
During sentencing for the Tate Modern incident, Mrs Justice McGowan told Bravery she couldn't 'emphasise too clearly that this is not a 15 year sentence', saying: "The sentence is detention for life."
Topics: Crime, UK News, World News, Mental Health
Olivia Burke