Mathuram Muthuraja shoved Harsha Jayasekera onto the tracks in front of his wife

A trainee accountant has been jailed for three years for pushing a reveller onto Tube tracks.

Mathuram Muthuraja, 23, shoved Harsha Jayasekera off the platform at Barons Court station in Kensington shortly before a train was due to pull in on October 28 last year.

Mr Jayasekera, 38, who had been standing with his doctor wife, was knocked unconscious and had to be pulled back up onto the platform by members of the public.

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The Old Bailey was told how the defendant had got drunk at a family party and was among a group of people going on to a nightclub in Leicester Square.




Muthuraja, from Northolt, east London, had denied meaning to harm Mr Jayasekera but was found guilty by a jury of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.

Sentencing, Judge Heather Norton QC said there could have been ‘horrific’ consequences and it was sheer ‘good fortune’ Mr Jayasekera was not badly hurt.

Muthuraja, from Northolt, east London, had denied meaning to harm Mr Jayasekera but was found guilty (Picture: Central News)

The judge said: ‘On October 28 last year, you were part of a group of people who were travelling by Tube from Park Royal, where there had been a family party which you had been invited to, to central London where the party was set to continue at a nightclub.

‘You were acting inappropriately to other party guests. When the train arrived at Barons Court it was decided by other guests that all should get off.

‘From then on in, the events that took place on the platform at Barons Court were recorded on CCTV.

‘You are shown to be clearly aggressive, trying to remove your shirt and in my view, spoiling for a fight.

‘Others sought to restrain you but rather than calming down you broke free, ran along the platform and you, with great and deliberate force, picked on another party guest who had been simply standing talking to his wife.

Harsha Jayasekera was just chatting with his wife Abirami Yogachandran when he was shoved with great force (Picture: Central)

‘You pushed him off the platform onto the tracks. A train was shortly due in at the station.

‘It was sheer good fortune that the man that you pushed onto those tracks only suffered minor injuries given that push was unexpected and the force with which you pushed him.

‘Given the fact he was knocked unconscious by the fall, it is a mercy he was not badly injured.

‘Had he fallen on a live track or the train had not been able to stop in time the consequences would have been horrific.’

The judge said being drunk was ‘no excuse’ and that Muthuraja was not in such a state he did not know what he was doing.

She commended the bravery of the man who jumped onto the track to pull Mr Jayasekera to safety.