‘I’ve got no idea why I pushed him’

A jobless crack addict accused of trying to kill a leading engineer by shoving him in front of an oncoming Tube train said he was only trying to push him to the floor.

Former Eurotunnel chairman Sir Robert Malpas, 91, was sent ‘flying’ onto the Central Line tracks as a train hurtled towards the platform at Marble Arch on 27 April.

Sir Robert was rescued by Frenchman Riyad El Hussani, 24, who burned his hand on the electrified track as he pulled Sir Robert up to safety.

Paul Crossley, 46, who spends up to £300 a week on crack, tried to escape but was detained by passengers and later told police: ‘I didn’t get much sleep last night’.

Asked by his barrister, Ian Henderson QC, why he shoved Sir Robert, he replied:

‘I don’t know.

‘I was having a panic attack and an allergic reaction to the depot injection (through which he receives antipsychotic medication).’

He said he was merely trying to push him ‘onto the floor’.

Crossley denies attempting to murder Sir Robert as well as another commuter, Tobias French, who was shoved onto the tracks a short while earlier at Tottenham Court Road station.

He told jurors he pushed Mr French ‘to scare him’ for giving him a ‘funny’ look after becoming paranoid but denied deliberately pushing him in the path of a Tube.

Crossley described how he had been diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic 30 years ago, aged 17.

Throughout that diagnosis he has received medication but had not been prescribed any at the time of the incidents after being ‘struck off the register’ by his GP.

He served a brief term in prison last last year for unrelated matters, and was released early in 2018.

Crossley was given fortnightly depot injections containing antipsychotic medication and tablets to take ‘morning and night’.

Aside from an injection on 10 April and another in the hours following his arrest on 27 April he had not been given any others since his release, the court heard.

His next one was due the day before the alleged attacks.

‘I kept on going there to try and get it, but they wouldn’t give it to me,’ he said.

Crossley confirmed he had received £750 in benefits back payments following his release from custody.

‘You have told us about the medication that was prescribed for you by the doctors who were looking after you and told us about the injections and tablets you were taking – or should have been,’ said Mr Henderson.

‘Were you taking any other drugs at this time?’

Crossley replied: ‘Crack cocaine.’

He added he had been using crack for 25 years, shelling out between £200 and £300 per week using his benefits.

The last time he used it was the day before the alleged offences, jurors heard.

On 27 April the court heard he travelled from his hostel in Leyton, east London, into Tottenham Court Road ‘to go for a day out; to get some coffee’.

Asked why he was walking around between different platforms, he said: ‘I was just getting paranoid.

‘I hear voices.’

He said he went and sat behind Tobias French and pushed him ‘to scare him’.

Mr Henderson asked: ‘Had you had any dealings with him; had you spoken to him; had he spoken to you?’ the barrister asked.

Crossley replied: ‘No.’

Asked why he decided to push him, he added: ‘To scare him.’

He explained: ‘He looked at me funny as I walked down the platform.’

Mr Henderson asked: ‘Were you intending that he fall on to the tracks?’

Crossley said he did not and insisted he had no idea whether a train was approaching the platform.

He added that he could not recall trying to push Mr French a second time.

Crossley got on a train for ‘a few more stops’, hopping off again at Marble Arch with his hood now pulled over his white cap ‘so I wouldn’t be recognised’.

He accepted pushing Sir Robert but told jurors he does not accept that ‘as a consequence of the push he landed on the tracks’.

Mr Henderson asked: ‘Why did you push Sir Robert Malpas?’

‘I don’t know,’ Crossley said, adding: ‘I was having a panic attack and an allergic reaction to the depot injection.’

Mr Henderson continued: ‘When you pushed Sir Robert Malpas were you intending that he end up on the tracks?’

Crossley replied: ‘No.’

‘Were you intending that he end up in front of a train?’ the barrister asked.

Again, Crossley answered: ‘No.’

Mr Henderson followed: ‘If you were not intending him to end up on the tracks, what were you intending?’

Crossley said: ‘Just to push him over onto the floor.’

When quizzed on why he chose Sir Robert, he added: ‘No reason.’

On arrest, jurors heard Crossley remarked that he ‘didn’t get much sleep last night’.

He explained that he suffered from insomnia for ‘days on end’ and said ‘every other day I was losing sleep’.

Prosecutor Benjamin Aina QC earlier read a statement from the driver of the oncoming Tube train, James Paddock.

‘On the approach to Marble Arch Station eastbound platform at approximately 3.10pm the train’s emergency brakes were applied,’ he said.

‘This was caused by someone on the eastbound platform operating an emergency train stop button.

‘The train stopped about 10 meters short of entering the station.

‘As I looked into the station I noticed somebody approximately two-thirds of the way into the station on the tracks and climbing back on to the platform.

‘At the same time, there were a number of passengers on the platform waving articles of clothing in an attempt to attract my attention.’

The court heard the driver blasted the train’s whistle for around 10 seconds to flag down staff and send a mayday message to controllers.

A short while later he was given permission to proceed into the station where the doors opened as usual and the Tube eventually carried on through towards Hainault via Newbury Park.

Sir Robert, a retired engineer knighted in the Queen’s birthday honours, was rushed to hospital where he received treatment for the nasty gash to his head, bruising on his face and fractured pelvis.

He was chairman of chemicals giant ICI and materials technology group Cookson.

Sir Robert, who also worked on the Engineering Council, lives in Wandsworth, Southwest London, with wife Lady Joan.

He had been attending an ICI pensioners’ reunion in Marble Arch on the afternoon of the incident.

Crossley, of Leyton High Road, Leyton, east London, denies two counts of attempted murder and two counts of attempting to cause grevious bodily harm.

He has admitted unlawfully wounding Sir Robert.

The trial continues.