Jonty Bravery, the teenager who threw a six-year-old boy from a viewing platform at the Tate Modern, has had his appeal against his 15-year minimum term for attempted murder dismissed. The Court of Appeal ruled that the sentence was neither manifestly excessive nor wrong in principle.
Bravery, 19, was detained for life with a minimum of 15 years at the Old Bailey in June after pleading guilty to attempted murder. In August 2019, he picked up a French boy on holiday with his family and dropped him 30 metres from a 10th-floor balcony at the Tate Modern art gallery in London.
During the appeal hearing, Deanna Heer, representing the crown, argued the sentence was not excessive, describing the act as one of exceptional callousness. She stated that Bravery intended to kill, had planned the killing, and deliberately selected a vulnerable victim. The boy suffered a bleed on the brain and various broken bones, requiring round-the-clock care until at least 2022.
Bravery's barrister, Pippa McAtasney QC, argued the minimum term was too high and that greater discount should have been given for his mental health and age. Bravery is severely autistic and was under the care of social services at the time. However, his legal team also abandoned an attempt to have him moved from prison to hospital.
