Train pusher who tried to homicide a person was a intercourse crime migrant

A homeless man who tried to murder a postman by pushing him onto the tube tracks is a migrant convicted of sex crimes who was already facing deportation.

Kurdish migrant Brwa Shorsh, 24, shoved stranger Tadeusz Potoczek, 61, at Oxford Circus in central London on February 3.

Although he denied trying to kill him, Shorsh admitted he did it for ‘revenge’ thinking the postman gave him a ‘dirty look’ and was found guilty of attempted murder.

Shorsh accumulated convictions of assault and indecent acts since coming to the UK in 2019.

According to The Sun, the Home Office tried to deport him but he lodged an appeal with the immigration tribunal – which was ongoing at the time of the attack. 

A source told the newspaper his appeal was ongoing when he pushed Mr Potoczek on the tracks and added: ‘It makes you wonder what exactly you have to do to be deported from the UK.’

Shorsh had 12 convictions for 21 offences including assault, anti-social behaviour and outraging public decency. The Home Office declined to comment to The Sun.

Video footage shows Mr Potoczek, a postman who was on his way home from work, walking along the platform when Shorsh lurched up from a bench and shoved him.

The postman narrowly missed touching the live rail on the southbound Victoria Line and he was helped back up to the platform by a kind passenger.

But the driver of an oncoming train told Inner London Crown Court in July: ‘If he had been on the track a few seconds later, he would have been killed.’

Mr Potoczek was hurrying home to catch a flight and was looking at arrivals board when he was attacked.

The driver had put on the emergency brake and his train was just four seconds away from hitting the victim.

Another commuter who pulled Mr Potoczek to safety said Shorsh yelled ‘What the f*** are you doing here?’

Shorsh previously told the court he wanted ‘revenge’ after three women allegedly laughed at him for being homeless and he felt Mr Potoczek had given him a dirty look.

He pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted murder and also denied an alternative count of attempted grievous bodily harm, but the jury returned a guilty verdict.

Shorsh said Mr Potoczek had been ‘very disrespectful to me’ and he did not know a train was coming.

He admitted what he did was ‘scary’ but it was not intended to kill.

During proceedings last month, prosecutors said the incident was ‘a random piece of violence’ against a man who ‘had done absolutely nothing wrong’.

On why he pushed Mr 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.’

As the jury retired to consider verdicts in the trial, throughout which Shorsh was seen smiling in the dock, the judge pointed out he had no remorse for his actions.

He was found guilty by a jury after just 32 minutes of deliberations.

Speaking to the defendant after the verdict, Mr Justice Kelleher said: ‘You have been found guilty of attempted murder, which is a very serious offence, and a long prison sentence will follow.’

After the verdict was announced Sam Barker, prosecuting, said Shorsh ‘has a large number – in a short time – of convictions for violence on members of tube staff and of the British Transport Police.’

Asked how he felt after the stranger pushed him onto the Tube track Mr Potoczek said he was feared he would ‘lose my life’.

He added: ‘I recognised that stopping a train is not like stopping a bike.’

Brave commuter Oliver Matthews came to his rescue and pulled him back up to the platform.

‘I feel an arm under my shoulder and I feel I am safe,’ said Mr Potoczek.

He added that Shorsh told passengers on the platform to ‘call the police’. He said: ‘Call the police!’ like he is not afraid of the police coming.’

Mr Matthews, who helped Mr Potoczek back onto the platform, said in his statement read to the court: ‘I was very shocked and I rushed over to the platform.

‘I took hold of [Mr Potoczek] and pulled him back onto the platform. I situated myself between them to make sure that [Shorsh] didn’t try anything else.’

Train driver Bobby Walker said in his statement he thought someone was about to commit suicide. He was leaning forward onto the track.

‘The male in the red jacket fell into the track but not into the deeper track area. I immediately put the train into emergency.’

‘I was shaken very badly by this. If he had been on the track a few seconds later he would have been killed. Also if I had looked away for a few seconds he would have been killed.

‘I am very glad I managed to stop the train.’

Shorsh will be sentenced on September 26.