Lee Byer (right) pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Thomas O’Halloran (Picture: PA)
A prolific criminal who stabbed an 87-year-old grandfather busking on his mobility scooter days after he was let out of prison has been sentenced to an indefinite hospital order.
Lee Byer, 45, was psychotic when he knifed Thomas O’Halloran in the chest and neck in a ‘shocking and senseless’ attack in Greenford, west London, in August 2022.
The Old Bailey heard he was obsessed with the Hunger Games and wrote of a scenario in which he was required to meet ‘contestants’ and then fight or attack.
Former maintenance man Mr O’Halloran, originally from Co Clare in Ireland, managed to travel a short distance seeking help for his wounds before he bled to death at the side of the road.
His grandson Dennis Lintern, who lived with his mum and Mr O’Halloran, said is a statement: ‘Grandad was a gentle, loving man who spent his whole life working and helping everyone he could.
‘He was taken in a horrendous act of cowardice by the defendant who has not only taken my grandfather’s life but devastated and took something from everyone who knew him.
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Thomas O’Halloran had been riding a mobility scooter on Cayton Road, Greenford, in west London, when he was stabbed to death (Picture: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire)
Byer of no fixed address, denied murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter by diminished responsibility and having an offensive weapon.
The pleas were accepted by the prosecution after mental health reports found Byer was psychotic, hearing voices, suffering from paranoid delusions and paranoid schizophrenia.
In a televised sentencing on Friday, Judge Mark Lucraft KC handed him a hospital order with restrictions.
The judge said it was a ‘senseless’ and ‘savage’ killing of a ‘much-loved’ man with ‘no provocation and no rational motive’.
He noted concerns over Byer’s mental health were raised in 2020 when there were reports he was hearing voices and tried to take his own life.
Mr O’Halloran was well known in the local community.
He raised money for charities by playing music, including raising money for Ukraine months before the killing.
His brother said: ‘He loved to play music. He did not drink or smoke but he could sit in a bar all night long with a bottle of Coke and listen to the band play.’
He raised money for charities by playing music, including raising money for Ukraine months before the killing
Footage showed that, apart from Byer, no one else went into or out of the area when the victim was attacked
Byer had a string of previous convictions, and days earlier had been released from Wormwood Scrubsm (Picture: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire)
On the afternoon of August 16, 2022, he was seen on CCTV footage waving from his mobility scooter as he headed home with his accordion and Ukraine collection box.
Gareth Patterson KC, prosecuting, said: ‘His path took him past this defendant, who was walking the streets in possession of a large knife.
‘Mr O’Halloran, for his part, was unarmed and of course, at the age of 87, he in no way posed any kind of threat to anyone.
‘Yet Tom O’Halloran was attacked and stabbed repeatedly by the defendant.’
Mr O’Halloran suffered two stab wounds to the heart, one to the back and three to the neck.
A young man who happened to be passing saw Mr O’Halloran trundling forward in his scooter before he came to a stop and slumped in his chair.
Mr O’Halloran was able to tell the young man that he had been stabbed.
ributes on Western Avenue Frontage Road in Greenford, Ealing (Picture: PA)
Police and paramedics rushed to the scene, but despite their best efforts he bled to death at the side of the road.
Mr Patterson said that money in the victim’s charity collection box and wallet were untouched.
Investigators found CCTV footage of Mr O’Halloran and Byer heading towards the passageway where the attack happened.
When Byer emerged from the passageway, he had a bread knife in his gloved hand.
As he made his way back to his mother’s house, Byer was caught on camera depositing a knife handle in a drain.
Forensic analysis found the victim’s blood on the handle, although the blade was never found.
Forensic analysis found the victim’s blood on the handle, although the blade was never found
CCTV images of the suspect were released in the media and Byer was identified by prison officers.
The gloves Byer wore during the attack were similar to those issued to prisoners at Wormwood Scrubs which the defendant was known to habitually wear.
After being arrested at his mother’s house on August 18, Byer told police: ‘I was in prison, I was in prison, so it is impossible what you are talking about.’
Receipts for clothes worn by the defendant were found at his home as well as a knife set with handles similar to the one found in the drain.
The burnt remains of Byer’s yellow and blue trainers were found in a fire in the garden.
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In police interviews, he denied being the suspect caught on CCTV and claimed it was a case of ‘mistaken identity’.
Detective Chief Inspector Laura Nelson who led the investigation said Mr O’Halloran’s death was ‘senseless’.
‘Detectives have conducted a meticulous investigation in order to establish the facts of Thomas’s death,’ she said.
‘Byer’s movements were tracked from his release from prison up to the day of the attack, enabling us to present evidence that could not be disputed. We have worked closely with the forensic command and their examinations have intrinsically linked Byer to the attack.’
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