The teenager who threw a six-year-old child off a viewing platform at Tate Modern in London should be detained in a secure hospital rather than in youth custody, a psychiatrist has recommended. Giving evidence at a sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey, Dr Joanna Dow, a consultant forensic psychiatrist who works at Broadmoor hospital, said it was “hard to envisage” that Jonty Bravery could ever be released into the community. Bravery, 18 from Ealing, west London, had pleaded guilty to attempted murder after he picked up the child and hurled him over the railings on a Sunday in August last year. The boy, from France, who was on holiday in London with his family, sustained life-changing injuries. The judge, Mrs Justice McGowan, said she will not deliver the sentence until Friday morning. “It is obviously not a straightforward case,” she explained. Bravery, who is being held at Broadmoor, has a mixed personality disorder and struggles to manage his emotions, Dow told the court. She recommended he be kept in hospital so that he could receive treatment – such as anger management – and learn social communication and interaction skills. Dow said: “[Bravery] reverts to ways of coping with stress he’s used to – usually violence. If we want to reduce risk to the public and rehabilitate, [hospital] is the kind of environment that is needed.” She added: “He presents as much younger than his age – he’s really quite immature in terms of how he holds himself, how he reacts with others, his views of the world.” Dow said he would be vulnerable in prison because of his immaturity. “He wants to make friends … but he lacks the skills to do so. He continues to talk about the nature of his offence in very graphic detail to other patients.” It would be “many, many years” before Bravery could be released from Broadmoor, Dow said. Any release would be done with a “very gradual approach”, with him stepping down to a medium-secure unit. Bravery appeared via video link, wearing a white T-shirt and dark shorts. He could be seen rolling his head around in his chair as Dow described him as being “at very high risk” of taking his own life. Earlier the prosecutor, Deanna Heer, said doctors agreed that Bravery suffered from autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and a personality disorder. “His callousness and the striking lack of emotional empathy … is not typical of autism but is more typically found in psychopathy,” one report stated. Five other charges, one of which was for racially aggravated common assault, should be allowed to lie on file, Heer said. Bravery had planned the offence “well in advance” and researched the easiest way to kill someone, she continued. “He narrowed it down to three possibilities: strangling a woman or a child, drowning a child or throwing someone off a tall building.” Bravery was a “looked-after child” under the care of Hammersmith and Fulham social services. He was living in supported accommodation. He was frequently aggressive to staff, abusive and failed to comply with boundaries, the court was told, lashing out every “six weeks or so”. Bravery, who was 17 at the time of the attack, was allowed out unaccompanied for four-hour periods. He left his accommodation in Northolt and travelled to London Bridge station. Initially he went to the Shard and inquired about buying a ticket for the viewing area, but he did not have enough money. He later admitted asking “where the next highest building was”. Bravery walked to Tate Modern. Witnesses said he was “behaving in an unusual way” and was seen to look over the railings near to where he would later throw the boy. Heer said: “A male matching his description struck up a conversation with a lady called Carole Hunter as she looked at the view. He commented to her that it was a long way down and that he had vertigo. Ms Hunter thought this was an odd comment and moved away from him.” The victim and his family arrived at the Tate Modern viewing platform at 2.32pm on the Sunday, having spent the day sightseeing and having a picnic by the river. CCTV caught Bravery turning towards the victim’s family, and the boy skipping a little way away from his parents. “As [the boy] approached,” Heer said, “the defendant scooped him up and, without any hesitation, carried him straight to the railings and threw him over. The CCTV footage shows [the boy] falling head-first towards the ground.” Heer said Bravery backed away from the railings. “He can be seen to be smiling, with his arms raised. At one point, he appears to shrug and laugh. The footage also captures [the victim’s] parents’ disbelief and rising panic at what had just happened.” The victim suffered life-threatening injuries and spent more than a month in hospital in the UK before being discharged to a hospital in France. He remains in a wheelchair and will require continuous support until at least August 2022. After his arrest, Bravery asked if he was going to be “on the news”. He said he had been “seriously unhappy” and heard voices telling him to hurt and kill people. Philippa McAtasney QC, defending, said her client’s “callous remarks, lacking remorse” in the aftermath of the incident should be viewed as part of his mental health disorder. She said Bravery had signalled his intention to commit such an offence in a conversation that was secretly recorded, apparently by care staff, which was subsequently published in the media. Neither the defence nor prosecution had been supplied with a copy, she said, and Bravery’s parents had also not been informed of the “shocking, prophetic” content of the recording. “He was somehow deemed suitable to be out unsupervised,” McAtasney added. “It beggars belief that that decision was made.” Bravery’s parents “abhor” what he did and could not forgive him, she said, but felt “let down by the system”. Closing Thursday’s hearing, the judge said she would hand down sentence on Friday. “Whatever happens, it will be for a very long time,” she said. McAtasney replied: “He knows that.”