A Tube passenger beat an Elizabeth Line worker to death in a rage at missing his train, a court has heard.
Ayodele Jamgbadi, 29, started kicking an advertisement frame after he missed a train from Ilford Station to Stratford, jurors at Inner London Crown Court were told.
When Jorge Ortega, 61, and two other TfL employees stepped in to try and calm the irate passenger down, Jamgbadi knocked him out with a single punch.
The blow sent him crashing to the concrete platform, inflicting a severe traumatic brain injury which Mr Ortega died from two days later in December 2024.
Jamgbadi was initially charged with causing grievous bodily harm but that was upgraded to murder following Mr Ortega’s death.
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Judge Benedict Kelleher said that Jamgbadi was ‘unfit to plead and that means he is mentally unwell and not fit to stand trial – he is in fact in hospital for that reason’.
He told jurors their job in the trial of issue was to come to a ruling as to whether Jamgbadi ‘did the act’ which led to Mr Ortega’s death.
The key question for them to answer is whether Jamgbadi threw the punch and whether it was a significant cause of Mr Ortega’s death.
Mr Ortega, a customer experience assistant, was with colleagues in an office on the platform when they heard ‘banging noises’ from outside, the court heard.
They went outside and saw Jamgbadi kicking an advertising frame and asked him if he was OK.
Prosecutor Patrick Dennis told the court ‘they effectively tried to calm Mr Jamgbadi down’.
Mr Ortega’s co-worker, Mohammed Alim, said the man ‘seemed a bit disturbed, a bit angry and just said “who’s got a problem?”’
Mr Alim told the court: ‘Within a split second he swung a punch on Jorge’s left-hand side. The attacker used his right hand.
‘It struck Jorge near the temple area. The impact of the punch was with so much force that I saw something fly out of his mouth.
‘He was floored. He hit the back of his head.’
Mr Alim said he feared the man was going to attack Mr Ortega again when he was on the floor, telling the court ‘he went to Jorge’.
He said ‘he looked at Jorge and he looked like he was going to attack him but I said “what are you doing?”’
The attacker then turned to Mr Alim, who said he thought he ‘stopped him’ from doing anything else.
Mr Alim said: ‘I raised my hands up in a defensive motion and said “take it easy”.
‘Something came to his head (the attacker) and he just turned back and walked off.
Mr Ortega’s co-workers and members of the public carried him in to an office where he was ‘going in and out of consciousness’, Mr Alim recalled.
Following his arrest Jamgbadi told British Transport Police officers: ‘I punched him in the face, I literally punched him in the face. What are you going to do about it, are you going to nick me?’
Mr Ortega was a member of the RMT union and worked as a customer experience assistant for MTREL, which runs the Elizabeth line.
RMT General secretary Mick Lynch had expresses his condolences to Mr Ortega’s family after the attack, while then Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer posted on X that the incident was ‘absolutely tragic’.
His family paid tribute to Mr Ortega and his son said in a statement: ‘Our dad was the most loving person, the kindest soul you could have the pleasure of meeting.
‘Everyone who has met our dad or who has ever worked with him over the years will tell you this. He had a brilliant mind, enjoyed cooking, loved drawing, and was highly skilled in art.
‘He was an amazing family man and would always put other people first. He loved his grandchildren, and in turn, they adored our dad.’
Jamgbadi, of Ilford, east London, is charged with murder.
The trial of issue continues.
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