A courageous London commuter leapt onto Tube tracks to rescue former Eurotunnel chief Sir Robert Malpasto after the 91-year-old was pushed off the platform by a stranger, the Old Bailey has heard.
Riyad El-Hussani, 24, “jumped on to the line at Marble Arch station a minute before the next train arrived” and dragged Malpasto to safety, The Times reports.
Despite burning his hand against a rail, French national El-Hussani pulled the dazed and bleeding victim to the edge of the platform, where other commuters helped haul them both up to safety, Benjamin Aina QC told the London court yesterday.
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The man accused of the unprovoked attack, 46-year-old Paul Crossley, was detained at the scene by onlookers until police arrived. He told commuters who caught him as he attempted to flee the platform: “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
He later gave the same response when questioned by police about his motive for the attack, says the London Evening Standard.
CCTV footage indicates that Crossley had been involved in a similar incident at Tottenham Court Road Underground Station shortly before shoving Malpasto, who was Eurotunnel’s chairman during his career as a top industrialist.
Tobias French was waiting on the platform when he “felt two hands push him from behind towards the track, with the train about ten metres away moving towards him”, Aina told the court.
French stumbled, but was able to keep his balance as the train pulled into the station. His assailant fled the scene by boarding the train in the direction of Marble Arch, where Malpas was attacked minutes later, says The Guardian.
Crossley, from Leyton, east London, admits attempting to wound Malpas, but denies attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and two counts of attempted murder.
The trial continues.
