Lee Byer, who admitted manslaughter on the ground of diminished responsibility, has schizophrenia
A man released from prison five days before stabbing an elderly mobility scooter rider to death has been detained indefinitely in a psychiatric hospital.
The Old Bailey heard Lee Byer, 45, killed Thomas O’Halloran, in Greenford, west London, in August 2022 while suffering from “demand delusions”.
He believed he was in a Hunger Games scenario and had to defend himself.
A manslaughter plea was accepted on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Two psychiatrists found Byer was psychotic, hearing voices, and suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.
In a televised sentencing on Friday, Judge Mark Lucraft KC handed him a hospital order with restrictions.
Image source, Met Police
Thomas O’Halloran was regarded as a much-loved member of the community
The judge said it was a “senseless” and “savage” killing of a “much-loved” man with “no provocation and no rational motive”.
On behalf of the O’Halloran family, grandson Dennis Lintern, condemned Byer for his “horrendous act of cowardice”.
Mr Lintern described his grandfather as a “gentle, loving, man who spent his life working and helping everyone he could”.
He said: “He was minding his own business doing what he loved, playing his accordion to make people smile and enjoy his music which he had done for many years.”
CCTV shows Byer disposing of the handle of a knife after the attack
In sentencing, Judge Lucraft ruled a hospital order with restrictions was the action most likely to protect others from “extremely dangerous” Byer.
Byer, of no fixed address, was returned to Broadmoor high security psychiatric hospital, from where doctors said he might never be released.
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