Brwa Shorsh and the failure of Britain’s asylum system

Postman Tadeusz Potoczek had completed his deliveries for the day. At around 3 p.m. on 3 February, the 60-year-old was returning from work via the London underground, still wearing his red postman’s coat. As the southbound Victoria line train rumbled towards Oxford Circus, he headed for the far end of the platform, perhaps in the hope of getting a seat. To his left, he noticed a young man sitting on a bench, but he didn’t think much of it – his mind was on other things. Suddenly, the stranger got up and shoved him, hard, onto the tracks.

It was a miracle that Mr Potoczek survived. The 750 volts running through the electrified rail would in all likelihood have killed him immediately had he touched it. Somehow he managed to avoid that grisly fate by staying on his feet after he fell onto the tracks.