Man who threw boy from 10th floor of Tate Modern guilty of attacking Broadmoor nurses

A man who threw a six-year-old boy from the 10th floor of the Tate Modern has been found guilty of attacking two nurses at Broadmoor hospital.

Jonty Bravery kicked a female nurse in the thigh and “clawed” another in the face, leaving her with blood dripping down her cheek.

The 24-year-old was given a life sentence for throwing the French boy from a balcony of the London art gallery in 2019.

The boy survived the 100ft (30m) fall, but was left with life-changing injuries, including multiple broken bones and a bleed on the brain.

Bravery is now at Broadmoor, a high-security psychiatric hospital in Berkshire.

He chose not to attend his trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, where he was found guilty of assaulting nurses Kate Mastalerz and Linda McKinlay in September last year.

Prosecutor Tom Heslop told how Bravery has to be monitored by three staff members “24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week”, and is kept in a room with only a mattress in it.

“At around 9.30 at night, Mr Bravery asked to go to the toilet,” he said.

“After he used the bathroom, he attempted to climb a ledge and throw himself from it.”

The nurses attempted to restrain him, putting him on the mattress before turning him on to his back, Mr Heslop said.

Bravery “kicked out towards Ms Mastalerz”, striking her thigh, the court heard.

He also “clawed across” Ms McKinlay’s face, leaving her with blood dripping down her cheek, the prosecutor said.

Body-worn footage played to the court showed the nurses struggling with Bravery on the floor before other staff rushed in to help.

A staff member can be heard shouting, “Jesus Christ, do something”.

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Ms McKinlay told the court it was the first time she had been attacked at Broadmoor in her long career.

“Jonty climbed up trying to get on to the windowsill,” she said.

She told the court Bravery had done this before to try and harm himself.

“We were trying to coax Jonty down. We didn’t want him to hurt himself,” she added.

“He was screaming and shouting and kicking. We shouted for assistance.”

Asked about 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.”

Ms McKinlay was taken to hospital for treatment.

Fellow nurse Ms Mastalerz said she started “shouting for help” when Bravery started kicking and scratching.

She was left with a bruised thigh, and said it had been a “very stressful situation”.

Finding him guilty of both charges, Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring said Bravery “went too far”.

He adjourned sentencing until 8 January, and asked for an update on Bravery’s current mental health condition.

In 2020, Bravery was imprisoned for another 14 weeks after he admitted attacking Broadmoor hospital staff.

He punched nursing assistant Sarah Edwards in the head and face before pulling her hair.

He also bit Maxwell King, a rehabilitation therapist assistant, on his finger after he came to his colleague’s aid.