- Title: Teenager who threw French boy from London art gallery jailed for 15 years
- Date: 26th June 2020
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - JUNE 14, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TATE MODERN EXTERIORS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LOOKING FROM TENTH FLOOR VIEWING PLATFORM AND OVERLOOKING THE TATE MODERN ROOF, ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL AND THE LONDON SKYLINE VARIOUS OF LONDON SKYLINE SEEN FROM VIEWING PLATFORM
- Embargoed: 10th July 2020 11:57
- Keywords: 15 years in jail Tate Modern attempted murder court sentencing Jonty Bravery six year old French boy thrown from viewing balcony
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
- Reuters ID: LVA001CK0BA6F
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:An autistic British teenager who threw a six-year-old French boy from a 10th-floor viewing platform at the Tate Modern art gallery in London with the intention of killing him was jailed for 15 years on Friday (June 26) and told he might never be freed.
Jonty Bravery, who was 17 at the time of the incident and told police he carried out the act because he wanted to be on the television news, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted murder last December.
The unnamed victim, who was visiting Britain with his family, fell 100 feet (30 metres) after he was targeted by Bravery and was found on a fifth-floor roof. His mother was heard screaming: "Where's my son? Where's my son?"
The boy survived but suffered a bleed to his brain and several fractured bones. Judge Maura McGowan at London's Old Bailey court said the boy's life would never be the same again and his parents had been forced to give up their lives to care for him.
A statement from the boy's parents was read out by police detective Melanie Pressley after the hearing.
"He has many years of physiotherapy ahead of him," the parents said, adding he had endured months of pain, fear and rehabilitation. He is still in a wheelchair and needs a body corset moulded to his waist.
Now 18, Bravery was arrested soon after the incident. He had researched how to kill people on the internet the previous day and before the incident he had asked a member of the public the location of a tall building.
The teenager, who has autistic spectrum and personality disorders, was being held at the high security Broadmoor Hospital but the judge decided he should be jailed for a minimum of 15 years.
(Production: Paul Warren, Gabriela Boccaccio) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
