Tate Modern fall: Boy thrown from balcony 'starting to walk'

The boy was aged six at the time he was thrown from the viewing platform and fell 100ft

A young boy who suffered life-changing injuries when he was thrown from the Tate Modern viewing platform has started to walk, his family has said.

The boy, aged six at the time, had been visiting London from France when he fell 100ft (30m) last year.

In a statement, his family said he had begun walking with the aid of a cane and was also in less pain.

Jonty Bravery, 19, who threw the boy, was convicted of his attempted murder and jailed for 15 years in June.

During Bravery's sentencing, the court was told the boy would require round-the-clock care until at least 2022.

His injuries included a bleed to the brain and fractures to his spine.

The boy had been visiting London from France with his parents

In a statement updating well-wishers, the boy's family said his condition was continuing to improve and he could walk with the aid of "a tetrapod cane while we hold him by the back of the coat for balance".

They said doctors had been able to lower his medication as he was in less pain and he was doing more with his left arm "like holding his tube of toothpaste or his glasses case to close it".

"He continues to recover his breath. He still speaks very slowly, but now speaks word by word and no longer syllable by syllable.

"He tries to sing and make up songs with rhymes," they added.

Covid restrictions mean one parent spends the day with the boy and the other the night and he is no longer allowed home for weekend visits.

His parents said his "memory is once again greatly affected" and he "no longer remembers what he did that day or what day it is".

"We are impatiently awaiting the... return of weekend leaves and visits because he misses his grandparents and his friends," they said.

A fundraising page for the boy has raised more than £250,000 towards his care.