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.
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)
Mr O’Halloran and Byer were caught on CCTV heading towards the passageway where their paths crossed.
The footage showed that, apart from Byer, no one else went into or out of the area when the victim was attacked.
When he left the passageway, a knife could be seen in Byer’s hand.
He was caught on camera depositing a knife handle in a drain in Haymill Close on the way back to his mother’s house.
ributes on Western Avenue Frontage Road in Greenford, Ealing (Picture: PA)
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.
After being arrested at his mother’s house on August 18, Byer told police: ‘Murder, I was in prison at the time.’
Clothes matching those seen on CCTV were found in a search of the property as well as a knife set with handles similar to the one found in the drain.
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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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