Updated 4 minutes ago
A man has admitted killing an elderly mobility scooter rider in a “motiveless” knife attack five days after being released from prison.
Lee Byer, 46, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter for diminished responsibility of Thomas O’Halloran, in Greenford, west London, in August 2022.
A group of children, one of whom called 999, tried to help the 87-year-old but he could not be saved.
A post-mortem examination found he was stabbed in the neck, chest and abdomen.
Police believe Mr O’Halloran, who had been playing his accordion by a supermarket, was attacked as he passed Byer in an alleyway alongside the A40, out of sight of drivers.
Senior officers described it as a “shocking act of unprovoked violence.”
Byer was captured on CCTV running off and was arrested at home nearby.
It can now be reported that Byer had a string of previous convictions and days earlier had been released from Wormwood Scrubs.
He also admitted having an offensive weapon.
Prosecutor Gareth Patterson KC accepted the pleas after mental health reports found Byer was psychotic, hearing voices, suffering from paranoid delusions and paranoid schizophrenia.
He said the defendant’s mental state provided an explanation for what was a “motiveless attack.”
Byer, of no fixed address, is currently being held at Broadmoor high security psychiatric hospital and is due to be sentenced on May 10.
