Man who threw boy off Tate Modern sentenced for attacking nurses

A man who threw a boy off a balcony at the Tate Modern gallery has been jailed for 16 weeks for attacking two nurses.

Jonty Bravery kicked one nurse at Broadmoor, a high-security psychiatric hospital in Berkshire, in the thigh and "clawed" at the face of the other, drawing blood, in September 2024. The 24-year-old was convicted in November but didn't attend the trial and refused to appear via video link at Thursday's sentencing.

He was previously given a life sentence for throwing the six-year-old French boy from the 10th floor of London's Tate Modern in 2019. The boy survived the 100ft (30m) fall with devastating injuries that included multiple broken bones and a bleed on the brain.

Bravery's recent trial heard three staff at the psychiatric hospital monitor him "24 hours a day, seven days a week" and his room only contains a mattress. Prosecutors said the nurses, Kate Mastalerz and Linda McKinlay, were attacked in September 2024 after he tried to climb on to a window ledge in his cell.

Footage showed staff trying to restrain Bravery on the floor before other people rushed in to help, with one shouting: "Jesus Christ, do something." "He attacked my face, he was clawing at my face. My eye and my face were all scratched," Ms McKinlay, who the prosecutors said was left with blood dripping down her cheek, told the court.

"In the aftermath, I was very shaken. In all my years of being in Broadmoor, I've never been attacked." She said Bravery had tried to throw himself off the windowsill before and was "screaming and shouting and kicking" as they tried to coax him down.

Ms Mastalerz was left with a bruised thigh. Bravery's sentence will run concurrently with the life sentence he received for attempted murder, which has a minimum term of 15 years.

However, the judge at Westminster Magistrates' Court said it was "very unlikely" he would be freed "unless something significant changes". It's not the first time Bravery has assaulted staff at Broadmoor.

He was sentenced to 14 weeks in 2020 for punching a nursing assistant and pulling her hair, then biting the finger of a colleague who came to help. Read more from Sky News:Former football referee avoids jail over sexual video of boyWoman jailed for killing three friends in Falkirk crash The boy Bravery threw off the Tate Modern spent months in intensive care and is still going through a long rehabilitation process.

However, his parents said in October their "little knight" was now able to run, jump and swim to some degree but still had "very limited" memory skills. They also said they expected him to be immobilised for about two months after another operation early this year.

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK..