The family of Thomas O'Halloran have said they are "disgusted" that Lee Byer's murder charge has been dropped without their knowledge.
In August 2022, Thomas O'Halloran (87) was fatally stabbed in his neck and chest while riding his mobility scooter. The incident too place during the afternoon in Greenford, West London. Lee Byer, a 45-year-old with no fixed address pleaded guilty to the lesser offense of manslaughter by diminished responsibility and having an offensive weapon.
O’Halloran was from Ennistymon, County Clare. He was a musician who often busked for charity in the area.
The decision to drop Byer's murder charge has been condemned by O'Halloran's family. The victim's daughter, Jeanne (64), told the London Times that the family was not consulted.
She said “We were given no choice, they just told us what they were going to do. I am disgusted by this, he will be freed from prison to kill again.
“We knew he had a previous conviction for robbery but we didn’t know he had just come out of prison when he killed my dad.”
Byer had been released from Wormwood Scrubs prison, in west London, just five days before the attack.
The prosecuting lawyer Gareth Patterson accepted Byer’s pleas after mental health reports found he was psychotic, hearing voices, and suffering from paranoid delusions and paranoid schizophrenia.
Patterson told the court that Byer's mental state provided an explanation for what was a “motiveless attack”.
Byer will be sentenced on May 10. He had 15 previous convictions recorded against him for 30 offenses dating back to when he was 14 years old. He is currently being held at Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital.
The Judge, Mark Lucraft said: “The issue for me will be to consider the degree of responsibility retained at the time and to work out the appropriate sentence.”
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