The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 6 August 2019 ** 5
Balcony attack
suspect may have
spent hours in
gallery, says Yard
By Martin Evans
and Katie O’Neill
A TEENAGER held on suspicion of
throwing a six-year-old boy from the
viewing platform at Tate Modern may
have spent up to two hours selecting
his victim, Scotland Yard has said.
The 17-year-old, who was arrested on
suspicion of attempted murder, is
thought to have been hanging around
the gallery acting suspiciously from
around midday on Sunday.
At some point he went to the 10th
floor viewing level and just after
2.30pm allegedly grabbed the boy, who
was with his mother, and hurled him
over the balcony.
The youngster, from France, who
was visiting London with his family,
fell five storeys – around 100ft – before
landing on a fifth-floor roof.
Witnesses described hearing a loud
bang before seeing a woman scream-
ing: “Where’s my son, where’s my son?”
Mark Welte, a writer, was on the ob-
servation deck when he heard what he
described as a loud “primal scream”.
“Someone said someone had thrown
a child over. I leapt up and looked over
the rail and I did indeed see a child be-
low,” he told the BBC. “The child’s
mother then tried to climb the rail. I
restrained her and pulled her back.”
The boy was airlifted to hospital,
where it was initially feared he might
not survive. Last night it was said he
was in a critical but stable condition. In
a statement yesterday, the Metropoli-
tan Police said while the boy remained
in a critical condition he was no longer
in a “life-threatening situation”.
Detectives said they had been una-
ble to establish a motive but witnesses
claimed the suspect had shouted that
social services were to blame for his ac-
tions. Last night police confirmed that
the mental health of the suspect was
“being explored as a line of inquiry” af-
ter reports that he may have suffered
from schizophrenia.
He was spotted standing calmly near
the scene surrounded by people who
looked to be in complete shock. Secu-
rity guards at the South Bank gallery
took the youth into the café, apparently
mistaking him for a member of the
boy’s family. It was only when wit-
nesses pointed out he was the alleged
culprit that the boy was seized by
members of the public.
Witnesses said an angry bystander
attacked the youth and punched him in
the face before tourists locked him in a
lavatory for his own protection.
Thousands of people were at the at-
traction on Sunday afternoon and de-
tectives asked for any further witnesses
to contact them. Det Chief Insp John
Massey said: “We are providing round-the-clock support to the little boy’s
family as they wait for more news on
his condition and our priority remains
to determine what led to [Sunday’s]
events. We are grateful for the support
of the public, some of whom detained
the male arrested in the immediate af-
termath of the incident. He was ar-
rested by officers very quickly
afterward.
“This was a truly shocking incident
... and people will understandably be
searching for answers. This is being
treated as an isolated event with no dis-
tinct or apparent motive. There is no
link between the victim and male ar-
rested. It would have been incredibly
distressing to watch.
“My team is also very keen to talk to
you if you witnessed a male whose be-
haviour seemed out of place, suspi-
cious or worrying in the hour or two
before the incident.”
The gallery opened yesterday but
kept the viewing gallery closed.Questions over warrant to search Beech suspect’s home
By Daily Telegraph ReporterA SEARCH warrant granted to raid the
home of the former head of the Armed
Forces falsely accused by Carl Beech
should have never been issued, it has
been revealed.
Detectives investigating the claims
of Carl Beech, also known as “Nick”,
said they had no reason to doubt VIP
child abuse and murder claims in a
document presented to a judge in 2015to approve the raid of Lord Bramall’s
home, a D-Day veteran.
The application, signed by a detec-
tive sergeant, said not raise eight fac-
tors that raised serious questions about
the validity of his accusations, accord-
ing to an investigation by The Daily
Mail.
Despite having no evidence to sub-
stantiate Beech’s claims, officers told
District Judge Howard Riddle that the
51-year-old former nurse was a “con-sistent” and “credible” witness. In the
document, Judge Riddle said he was as-
sured the implications for the applica-
tion for the proposed raid had been
“considered at DAC level”.
This was a reference to Steve Rod-
house, a Metropolitan Police deputy
assistant commissioner and “gold com-
mander” of the £2.5 million investiga-
tion.
The revelation comes days after Priti
Patel, the Home Secretary, demanded afull written explanation from the police
watchdog as to why no officers will face
disciplinary charges over the botched
investigation.
Last month, Sir Richard Henriques,
the retired High Court judge who car-
ried out a review of Operation Midland,
said he believed there were grounds
for officers to be investigated for per-
verting the course of justice after they
were accused of misleading a judge
when they applied for the warrants.News
No rest for the
wicked Angelina
Jolie features on
the cover of Elle
magazine’s
September issue.
The Maleficent
actress and UN
ambassador opens
up about why we
need more “wicked
women”, claiming
that “had I lived in
earlier times, I
could have been
burnt at the stake
many times over for
simply being
myself ”. The issue,
in which Jolie also
reflects on her
purpose in life and
the important
things she shares
with her children,
is available from
Thursday.ELLE UK/ ALEXI LUBOMIRSKIYouth held on suspicion of
throwing six-year-old boy
off platform blamed social
services, witnesses claim
‘The child’s mother then
tried to climb the rail.I restrained her and
pulled her back’РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS