USA News Hub

A former convict who repeatedly stabbed an elderly mobility scooter rider just days after being released from prison has been detained in hospital indefinitely.

Lee Byer, who was obsessed with The Hunger Games films, carried out a motiveless attack on 87-year-old Thomas O’Halloran in Greenford, west London, causing fatal injuries to his neck and chest.

The 45-year-old, of no fixed address, denied murder but admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility after mental health reports found he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.

He later wrote repeatedly about a Hunger Games scenario in which he was required to meet “contestants” and then fight or attack, the Old Bailey was told.

He was sentenced on Friday to an indefinite hospital order.

The court heard that shortly after 4pm on 16 August 2022, a passer-by discovered Mr O’Halloran on his scooter coming from a passageway near Runneymede Gardens.

The beloved grandfather, who was originally from Co Clare in western Ireland, was able to say that he had been stabbed, while wounds could be seen on his body.

Police arrived within minutes but Mr O’Halloran collapsed, and despite the best efforts of paramedics, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A post-mortem examination found he had suffered multiple stab wounds to his upper body and a major police investigation was launched, with CCTV images circulated of his attacker fleeing the scene while carrying a knife.

Byer was recognised by people working in the criminal justice system, having been released from Wormwood Scrubs prison only five days earlier.

Footage had shown Mr O’Halloran and Byer heading towards the passageway, with no one else seen leaving the scene while the victim was attacked.

As he left the passageway, he could be seen carrying a knife and was further caught on camera depositing a knife handle in a drain on the way back to his mother’s house.

When discovered by police, a forensic analysis found the victim’s blood on the handle, although the blade was never found.

On 18 August, he was arrested at his mother’s house and 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.

Police also alleged Byer had tried to burn the clothes he was wearing in his mother’s garden.

In police interviews, he denied being the suspect caught on CCTV, claiming he was in his mother’s garden or the park at the time.

A report on his mental health later found that he was psychotic, hearing voices, suffering from paranoid delusions and paranoid schizophrenia.

Prior to killing Mr O’Halloran, he had 15 previous convictions against him for 30 offences dating back to when he was 14.

In 2011, he was convicted of robbery after recruiting a group of men to steal jewellery and money from shops in Victoria and Richmond and was jailed for 12 years.

Mr O’Halloran was survived by his family, including his sister, two brothers, nieces and nephews.

He was known to be a passionate musician who regularly busked for charity outside the local Tesco’s in Greenford, with footage showing him raising money for Ukraine.

At the time of his death, Fine Gael senator Martin Conway said Mr O’Halloran visited Ireland regularly and that his death had left his home community in Ennistymon in “deep shock and sadness”.

“Tommy, as he was known, left Ennistymon for London 71 years ago but travelled home almost every year until about 10 years ago,” he said.