Serious case review to be launched after teenager under council care threw boy, 6, from Tate Modern
Nina Jacobs
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
A serious case review is to be launched after an autistic teenager under council care threw a six-year-old boy off a viewing platform at a London gallery leaving him with life-changing injuries.
Jonty Bravery, who is understood to have slipped away from his carers, was seen on CCTV footage peering over the edge of the tenth-floor platform at the Tate Modern before singling out the boy and throwing him over the side.
Bravery, who has since admitted attempted murder, told police he had planned the incident for a long time to highlight how unhappy he was with the care he had received.
The teenager, from Ealing, was 17 at the time of the attack but has been named in the media as reporting restrictions no longer apply to him as he has now turned 18.
The Local Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) covering the boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster, is leading the serious case review into Bravery’s actions which left the boy with fractures to his spine, legs and arms and a bleed on the brain.
The child’s family, who were visiting the museum on a trip from France, said he has not recovered full mobility or brain function.
Local safeguarding children boards are tasked with conducting serious case reviews (SCR) when a child is seriously harmed or dies as a result of abuse or neglect.
A spokesperson for Ealing Council said Bravery had been “placed” in the borough but that the council was not responsible for his care plan.
Reports in the national media from Bravery’s neighbours suggested he was being cared for in the community with live-in carers and was not allowed out unaccompanied.
Hammersmith & Fulham Council, which is believed to have “contributed” to Bravery’s care package, said the West London NHS Trust would have been the lead agency in making a decision about the type of care he received.
“This kind of random attack is every parent’s worst nightmare and it’s difficult to imagine the trauma this family has been through.
“We’re supporting an independent serious case review of the actions taken by all the agencies involved,” a spokesman for the council said.
In a statement, the trust confirmed Bravery was a patient of Ealing Child & Adolescent Mental Health services, being seen in the community.
However, it was unable to comment further about the package of care provided to Bravery but said it would be contributing to the SCR led by the local safeguarding children board.
