Killer admits killing pensioner on mobility scooter in random attack in Greenford

A knifeman who repeatedly stabbed an 87-year-old on a mobility scooter in a random attack has pleaded guilty to his manslaughter.

Thomas O’Halloran rode his scooter some 75 yards down the road while trying to flag down members of the public for help in Greenford, west London, before collapsing of his wounds.

His attacker Lee Byer had launched the unprovoked assault outside Runnymede Gardens in August 2022, with a post-mortem examination discovering multiple stab injuries to his neck, chest and abdomen.

Byer was arrested after the Met Police launched a manhunt, with CCTV released of him running from the scene while carrying a large blade.

Despite initially pleading not guilty to both murder and possession of a large blade, he admitted manslaughter during an appearance on Monday at the Old Bailey ahead of his trial.

The death of Mr O’Halloran, a grandfather said to be well-known in the local community, triggered an outpouring of grief and outrage in the UK and Ireland.

In the months leading up to his murder, Mr O’Halloran had been busking with his accordion outside a Tesco and a train station in west London to raise money for the war in Ukraine.

He was known for being a passionate musician and was described as “very popular” in both Greenford and his native Co Clare in the west of Ireland.

His younger brother George told TheDaily Mail: ‘Tommy was a kind and gentle man.

“He was a very kind person who would get along with anybody. This was a terrible thing to have happened.’

Mr O’Halloran had left Ireland as a teenager in the 1950s and emigrated to the UK along with eight siblings in search of better opportunities, but had returned annually to his home village of Ennistymon.

His nephew, Thomas O’Halloran Jnr, told Irish broadcaster RTE: “At that stage in somebody’s life, to reach 87 is a feat in itself, but to be tragically taken away from his direct family and his extended family here in Ireland, it’s senseless. Absolutely senseless.

“The violence, seemingly for no particular reason, which has completely shocked all of us. It’s numbing, it’s unbearable to think about.”