Man who shoved tube passenger on to tracks guilty of attempted murder

A man accused of pushing a tube passenger on to the tracks has been found guilty of attempted murder.

Brwa Shorsh, 24, shoved Tadeusz Potoczek, 61, at Oxford Circus underground station in central London on 3 February.

Potoczek, a postal worker who was on his way home from work, narrowly missed the live rail on the southbound Victoria line. He was helped back on to the platform by another passenger.

The driver of an oncoming train said if Potoczek had been on the track a few seconds later, he would have been killed, inner London crown court heard.

Shorsh was found guilty by a jury after 32 minutes of deliberations and will be sentenced on 26 September.

Mr Justice Kelleher told the defendant: “You have been found guilty of attempted murder, which is a very serious offence, and a long prison sentence will follow.”

CCTV footage seen by the court during the two-day trial showed the victim walking past Shorsh, who stood up and shoved him on to the line. The lights of an oncoming train could be seen in the tunnel ahead. Another man on the platform rushed to Potoczek’s aid and helped him back on to the platform.

Shorsh, a Kurdish migrant who had been sleeping rough in England since 2020, pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted murder and denied an alternative count of attempted grievous bodily harm.

The defendant previously told the court he was “angry” after three women allegedly laughed at him for being homeless and he felt Potoczek had given him a dirty look.

Shorsh said Potoczek had been “very disrespectful to me” and he did not know a train was coming. He added that what he did was “scary” but it was not intended to kill.

During proceedings on Tuesday, prosecutors said the incident was “a random piece of violence” against a man who “had done absolutely nothing wrong”.

On why he pushed Potoczek so hard and on to the track, Shorsh said: “He made me angry and I hated him.”

Shorsh later told the court: “I am sorry for what happened. I did not intend to kill him and I am not a murderer.” He said in that split second “I wanted revenge”.