A homeless man who pushed a stranger onto the tracks at Oxford Circus tube station has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of eight years. Brwa Shorsh, 24, was found guilty of attempted murder at Inner London Crown Court on Thursday.
The attack took place on 3 February when Shorsh pushed postman Tadeusz Potoczek, then 60, off the platform and into the path of an oncoming Victoria Line train. Potoczek, who was on his way home from work, had walked past Shorsh sitting on a bench. Without provocation, Shorsh leapt up and shoved him onto the tracks.
Potoczek managed to stay on his feet and a passerby helped him climb back onto the platform just as a train arrived. The judge, Mr Justice Kelleher, noted that it was “purely through luck that Mr Potoczek fell close to the edge of the track and did not touch the electric rail.”
Shorsh left the scene but was later arrested at Warren Street station. He admitted pushing the victim because he believed Potoczek had given him “a dirty look.” The judge described the act as “extremely dangerous” and said it would “strike fear into every traveller on the Underground.”
Shorsh, who entered the UK illegally in 2018, had a history of violent offences, including assaults on railway staff and a female passenger. The judge said he posed a “high risk of serious physical harm to members of the public.”
