Killer Lee Byer has been given an indefinite hospital order after pleading guilty to manslaughter by way of diminished responsibility after he stabbed a pensioner originally from Co. Clare to death in London in August 2022.
Minutes before he was set upon and stabbed repeatedly in the neck, chest, and abdomen by Byer 87-year-old Thomas O’Halloran was captured on CCTV returning home from a nearby Tesco where he had purchased a small number of supplies including some milk.
A man has been hospitalised indefinitely for killing an elderly mobility scooter rider in a 'motiveless' knife attack.
Lee Byer stabbed 87-year-old Thomas O’Halloran in the neck and chest in west London in August 2022.
GB News' Tom Fredericks reports. pic.twitter.com/aPMW4x5ChP
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The elderly man was well known in his community in London and would often play his accordion in public, often busking to raise money for charity.
A UK court heard that 47-year-old Byer, who was released from prison only days before carrying out the brutal murder was obsessed with The Hunger Games.
Moments before he attacked Thomas, Byer was captured passing a woman pushing a buggy with the knife he used to take the pensioner’s life clearly visible in his right hand.
King’s Court prosecutor Gareth Patterson said that “technically” Byer was on bail when he was released from Wormwood Scrubs prison in August 2022.
He added, “these offences were committed while on bail. Some months later that allegation was discontinued.”
“From accounts from his mother and brother, there was odd behaviour but at that stage the full nature and degree of his mental illness had not been diagnosed.”
The Old Bailey also heard that Byer was Schizophrenic, had a personality disorder and was involved in substance misuse.
Byer had a series of previous convictions including a sentence for robbery in 2011.
He was placed under the care of consultant forensic psychiatrist soon after his arrest in August 2022 and was found to be fit to enter a plea in answer to the charges brought against him.
He was ordered to be kept in indefinite hospitalisation at Broadmoor Hospital, Berkshire where he has been receiving treatment since August last year.
On expert advice the court deemed that hospitalisation and not imprisonment was the best way to ensure the safety of the public and that it was likely that Byer’s treatment would be life long.
A report from one physiatrist found that was a “very dangerous man” who attacked and killed with “no provocation”.
Reading details about the case Judge Mark Lucraft KC sitting at the Old Bailey said that O’Halloran was “clearly a much loved man” and the the head of an extended family.
He described Byer’s actions as “senseless” and “savage”.
“Born in Ireland, he had lived in England all his adult life. He worked as a maintenance man, and was described as a gentle, loving man who spent his whole life working and helping everyone he could,”.
“One can only imagine the impact of the violence towards this gentle man and all those who knew him and no words can cover the grief they feel at this senseless killing,”.
He described how young man who happened to be in the area had found Mr. O’Halloran on his motorised mobility scooter, clearly injured and in difficulty.
He was able to tell the young man that he’d been stabbed. He then moved a short distance on his scooter before he slumped forward, whereupon members of the public rushed to his assistance.
Despite first aid being administered and the best efforts of paramedics who arrived on the scene the old man succumbed to his extensive injuries.