Tube killer warned doctors he would strike

A mental patient pushed a commuter to his death under a train just two weeks after telling doctors he would do exactly that, a court has heard.

Mental health bosses nevertheless decided to allow Mehmet Bala, 20, out of hospital for two or three hours a day.

On July 7 last year he pushed 52-year-old John Curran in front of an Underground train at Highbury and Islington Station in North London. Mr Curran, from Southgate, North London, who was targeted at random, died from multiple injuries.

Bala was jailed for life at the Old Bailey, but can apply for parole in three and a half years. He admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Judge Ann Goddard said she had no power to make a hospital order because Broadmoor refused to offer Bala a bed, stating that he had an untreatable personality disorder.

The court heard that Bala sought help three times between June 2005 and June 2006 and was diagnosed as a schizophrenic during his first stay at Homerton Hospital in Hackney.

On his third visit he was initially made to stay then allowed out for two to three hours at a time after his medication was increased.