Tube pusher guilty of two attempted murders

A passenger who pushed a former chairman of Eurotunnel onto Tube tracks moments after trying to kill another commuter is facing years in jail.

Sir Robert Malpas, 91, was left sprawled beneath the tracks as a train hurtled into Marble Arch on 27 April.

He was saved by heroic French national Riyad El Hussani, 24, who burned his hand on the electrified track as he hauled the engineer to safety.

Moments earlier Paul Crossley, 46, wearing a white baseball cap pulled low over his face, tried to shove Tobias French onto the tracks at Tottenham Court Road.

Both men had miraculous escapes

The crack addict claimed he was merely trying to push Sir Robert ‘onto the floor’ and said he shoved Mr French ‘to scare him’ because he gave him a ‘funny look’.

But Benjamin Aina QC, prosecuting, said Crossley was out looking for someone to push in front of a train and leapt at Sir Robert because he was ‘annoyed’ by the failed attempt on Mr French.

An Old Bailey jury took almost five-and-a-half hours to find him guilty of two charges of attempted murder.

The Recorder of London, Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC, said: ‘Mr Henderson, so the jury understand, you had obtained a psychiatric report just to make sure there was nothing of a psychiatric nature that might affect the way the trial went or that the jury should have known.

‘Having got that report, the answer was that there wasn’t anything.

‘But, as you will appreciate I have got to decide the right sentence for these offences.

‘They are obviously very serious offences indeed and there plainly is a psychiatric history and I think I would certainly be helped by a report that looks at whether there is anything in that history that could have a bearing on what the right sentence is.’

He added: ‘Mr Riyad El Hussani showed exceptional bravery with a complete disregard for his own safety in saving Sir Robert and he is obviously to be commended for that.’

Crack addict: Paul Crossley

Both he and Mr French, who said he was only able to maintain his balance due to his background as a professional sportsman, watched the trial unfold from the public gallery.

Sir Robert said in his statement read to the court: ‘As I was walking along the platform I felt a two-handed push to my back and felt myself falling over the tracks and landing on the rails.

‘I may have been concussed but only for a short time. I banged my head on the rails.

‘I became aware of a male to my right, the male lifted me by my upper body, I saw him wave up to the platform for others to help him.’

Sir Robert lay in the pit below the electrified track with blood flowing from his head and struggled to get up.

The board signalled one minute until the next train.

Mr El Hussani said in his statement: ‘I heard screams and shouting, I then ran 20 metres and saw a male on the tracks.

‘I saw lots of people standing around him. It looked like they wanted to help.

‘I saw him full of blood, on his knees on his front, I then heard people shouting get up and get out.

‘The danger then kicked in. I grabbed the male and pushed him up to the right towards the platform.’

The French teacher applied pressure to the gash on Sir Robert’s head using tissues bystanders handed him.

Victim: Sir Robert Malpas

He had sustained a fractured pelvis which would require the use of crutches for six weeks, as well as 12 stitches for the cut to his head.

Earlier Crossley had tried to shove Mr French onto the tracks just a few stops East at Tottenham Court Road.

‘Mr French stumbled forward slightly but was able to remain standing,’ said Mr Aina.?
‘He started to turn to face his attacker and felt another push to his upper body pushing him towards the tracks again.’

Crossley claimed he had only been trying ‘to scare’ Mr French, but when pressed by Mr Aina he conceded he thought his target ‘might hit his head on a train’.

‘When Mr Crossley pushed Mr French and in his own words knew he    might bang his head on the train’; what else could his intention have been?’ the prosecutor asked jurors.

Crossley walked away briskly and boarded the arriving train, but just before the doors closed he slipped away and crossed to the westbound Central line platform, the court heard.

During his journey to Marble Arch he pulled his hood over his hat in ‘an attempt to disguise himself’, and on arrival crossed over to the eastbound platform.

CCTV footage showed Crossley rushing out from a passageway just as Sir Robert was crossing his path as he made his way along the platform.

After shoving Sir Robert, Crossley was chased along the walkway between the platforms and held by two men, Robert Thomas and John Lowman.

He shrieked, ‘It’s not right, I know it’s wrong,’ and when arrested told officers, ‘I didn’t get much sleep last night.’

The £300 a week crack addict was asked by his barrister, Ian Henderson QC, why he shoved Sir Robert and replied: ‘I don’t know.

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

Sir Robert was treated in hospital for a 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 night of the incident.

Crossley, of Leyton High Road, Leyton, east London, denied but was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder/wounding Sir Robert with intent to cause grievous bodily harm/attempting to cause GBH to Mr French.
He had admitted unlawfully wounding Sir Robert.

Crossley was remanded in custody and will be produced via video link at the same court on 9 November when the judge will decide how to proceed to sentence.

ends