Tube pusher jailed for life after shoving 91-year-old man onto the tracks

Paul Crossley had tried to do the same to another commuter just minutes earlier

A schizophrenic who pushed a 91-year-old pensioner onto the tracks at a London Underground station has been jailed for life.

Drug addict Paul Crossley, 47, shoved Sir Robert Malpas onto the rails at Marble Arch on 27 April last year.

The older man only escaped being hit by a train after a quick-acting bystander jumped onto the tracks to help him back to the platform – less than a minute before the next arrival was due.

Crossley, who had earlier tried to do the same to another commuter that day, was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder at the Old Bailey on Monday.

Jurors had previously heard how Sir Robert, a former Eurotunnel boss, had been heading to a pensioners' lunch when he was targeted by Crossley.

The industrialist, who was knighted in 1998, suffered a broken pelvis and gash to the head during the incident.

But it could have been much worse had bystander, teacher Riyad El Hussani, not jumped onto the tracks to pull the nonagenarian away from danger.

Crossley, of Leyton, East London, was caught when other tube-users chased and detained him.

The shocking incident was caught on CCTV footage, which was played at his trial last year.

The same hearing was also told how previously the same day Tobias French had managed to keep his balance when he too was targeted as a train pulled in to Tottenham Court Road station.

Sentencing, judge Nicholas Hilliard labelled the attacks "terrifying" and called Crossley a "grave and enduring risk to the public".

He said: “You pushed Mr French first of all knowing very clearly that was wrong, and then you tried to make yourself harder to identify with your hood.”

He added Crossley then "consciously and deliberately sought out a more vulnerable victim,” saying that it was clear Sir Robert was singled out because of his advancing age

"The moment you saw Sir Robert you went for him," he said. "I'm satisfied that paranoid schizophrenia was not the driving force here - it was drug abuse and its consequences."

Judge Hilliard added that Mr Hussani acted with "great bravery and no regard at all for his safety".

Crossley has always denied the charges, telling jurors he picked his victims at random and did not mean to kill them.

He told his trial he had taken crack cocaine the previous day and had gone to the West End after hearing the song West End Girls by the Pet Shop Boys.

He claimed he thought the song was giving him instructions “to hurt someone”.

He was told he would serve a minimum 12 years before being considered for release.