Man found guilty of attempted murder after pushing postman onto Tube tracks

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

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

Mr Potoczek, a postman who was on his way home from work, narrowly missed touching the live rail on the southbound Victoria Line.

He was helped back up to the platform by another passenger, and the driver of an oncoming train has said that “if he had been on the track a few seconds later, he would have been killed”, Inner London Crown Court heard.

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

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.”

Shorsh will be sentenced on September 26.

CCTV footage shown to the court during the two-day trial depicted the defendant pushing Mr Potoczek onto the tracks at Oxford Circus Station.

The victim is seen walking past Shorsh who stands up and shoves him onto the line. The lights of an oncoming train can be seen in the tunnel ahead.

Another man on the platform can be seen rushing to his aid and helping him back onto the platform.

Shorsh, who had been sleeping rough in England since 2020, pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted murder and also 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 Mr Potoczek had given him a dirty look.

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 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 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.”

He said in that split second “I wanted revenge”.

The jury was asked to begin deliberations by Mr Justice Kelleher at 11.54am on Wednesday and returned a verdict at 12.26pm.