Tate balcony pusher 'told carers he wanted to launch someone off high building'

7 February 2020, 00:36 | Updated: 7 February 2020, 00:43

A teenager who threw a six-year-old boy off the 10th floor balcony of the Tate Modern allegedly told carers of his plan to kill a year earlier.

Jonty Bravery, 18, launched the little boy off the viewing platform in front of his horrified parents on 4 August, leaving him heavily disabled.

He had been visiting the capital with his parents, who witnessed the horrific attack.

But whistleblowers have now come forward claiming Bravery had spoken about planning the attack, saying they alerted senior staff about the recordings but nothing was done about it.

It is claimed he was enraged at having his iPad confiscated over fears he would stalk his family, who he no longer lived with, and invented the plot as a way of getting it back.

One of the carers became so concerned they recorded him making the claims.

In the audio, recorded in autumn 2018, a voice reported to be Bravery can be heard saying: "I’ve got it in my head, a way to kill somebody... and I know for a fact they’ll die from falling from the hundred feet."

When asked to explain what he meant, he said he would visit London "as if it was a normal day" to "visit some of the landmarks."

He added: "It could be the Shard, it could be anything... as long as it’s a high thing. And we could go up and visit it, and then push one of... push somebody off it."

According to the joint investigation between the Daily Mail and BBC, Bravery claimed he wanted to kill someone so he could get out of council care, and told carers he knew 'for a fact' he would go to prison if he did that.

Bravery, who has autism, an obsessive compulsive disorder, and a personality disorder, had been moved into council care in 2017.

According to the media outlets, carers were told to "never say no to Bravery" as he was known to become aggressive if he did not get his own way.

Responsibility for his care was left to Hammersmith and Fulham Council, who had hired private care provider Spencer and Arlington to carry out the work.

Bravery was given a flat in Northolt, west London, with six carers who looked after him 24/7.

But on the day of the attack, Bravery was allowed out on his own.

In a statement, Spencer and Arlington said it had ‘no knowledge and no records’ of the claims or recordings being made.

A spokesperson said: "We will continue to co-operate openly and with complete transparency with the serious case review and await its conclusions.

"We are confident the full facts will emerge from this process. We believe we have acted entirely properly in managing and reporting the provision of care for Jonty Bravery.

"However, with regards to the entirely speculative claim put to us that Jonty may have told carers of his plans, there is absolutely no evidence of this and nor is there any mention of this recorded in any care plan, case report or review from managers or from his carers, psychologists, or health workers reporting to us."

Bravery is due to be sentenced later this month, and an independent serious case review has been set up.