Autistic teenager who threw boy from Tate Modern platform wants move from prison to hospital
A teenager who threw a six-year-old boy from the viewing platform of the Tate Modern has launched an appeal in a bid to be moved from jail to hospital, a court has heard.
Jonty Bravery, 19, appeared by video-link at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday from Belmarsh prison, where he is currently serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 15 years for attempted murder.
He is facing trial for allegedly attacking nurses Sarah Edwards and Maxwell King at Broadmoor Hospital on January 29, while he was being held on remand at the secure unit.
Bravery (pictured) was jailed in June for throwing the boy from the 10th-storey balcony of the London art gallery on August 4 last year.
The victim, who was on holiday with his parents in the capital from France, survived the 100ft (30m) fall, but suffered life-changing injuries, including a bleed on the brain and multiple broken bones.
After a delay of around half an hour, while Bravery was brought to the video conference room, he waved at the camera and said: “Yes, I can hear you.”
Wearing a grey prison-issue sweatshirt, he followed proceedings, while sitting at a desk for the rest of the brief hearing.
The court heard he is mounting an appeal over the judge Mrs Justice McGowan’s sentence at a hearing on December 7.
His lawyer, Andrew Bousfield, also appearing by video-link, said the challenge will focus on “whether he should be sentenced to a hospital order or be in the normal prison population”.
Mr Bousfield said his client would be transferred back to Broadmoor if the appeal is successful.
District Judge Sam Goozee said Bravery will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in person on December 18 to face trial on two counts of assault by beating.
He could face an additional prison sentence of up to six months if convicted but the judge said he would get a concurrent hospital order if he has won his appeal.
“You are further remanded in custody, this time to be produced in person on December 18,” the judge told Bravery, who interrupted to offer the date before saying: “OK.”
Bravery, who has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), was in supported accommodation under the care of Hammersmith and Fulham Social Services at the time of the attack.
He had been allowed out unsupervised despite a history of lashing out at staff, his sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey was told in June.
The victim’s family announced he can now stand unaided, telling well-wishers in a statement in September: “We are already seeing new progress: he can at last stand on his legs without any help or support!”
Bravery, originally from Ealing, west London, denies two counts of assault by beating.
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