Elizabeth Line worker died after single punch from passenger, court told

An Elizabeth Line railway worker died after a single punch from a “angry” passenger, a court has heard.

Transport for London (TfL) worker Jorge Ortega, 61, hit his head on the concrete platform at Ilford station after a single punch, a jury was told.

He died of a severe traumatic brain injury two days after the blow was allegedly delivered by Ayodele Jamgbadi in December 2024.

Jamgbadi, of Kingston Road, Ilford, was arrested on December 5 2024, a day after the attack, Inner London Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Patrick Dennis told the court: “The defendant stated to the police at that point ‘what are you going to do about it?’

“’I punched him in the face. I literally punched him in the face. Are you going to nick me then?’”

Mr Dennis told the jury at Jamgbadi’s murder trial that three TfL staff members, including Mr Ortega, had approached a man on the platform after being alerted by banging noises.

Mr Dennis said that CCTV images showed: “They don’t get particularly close, the defendant then started to walk away from them but he then turned around and started to walk toward Jorge Ortega, who started to back away.

“It is at that stage he punched Jorge Ortega with significant force.”

On Tuesday the jury were told that Jamgbadi, 30, was not fit to take part in his murder trial.

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.”

The job of the jury in this trial of the issues was to come to a ruling as to whether Jamgbadi “did the act” which led to Mr Ortega’s death.

The key questions they have to consider 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.

They went outside and saw Jamgbadi kicking an advertising frame and asked him if he was OK.

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”.

Mr Alim 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.

The attacker then moved away after Mr Alim said something to him and towards a third member of staff, before he left the scene, the court heard.

The man then pushed through the barriers without paying in order to leave the station.

The jury were told that pathologist Dr Michael Parsons concluded: “The overall pattern of head injury is entirely consistent with a substantial impact to the back of the head caused by a heavy fall from a standing height.

“There was bruising and a laceration to the right eyebrow and adjacent cheek which are entirely consistent with a punch to the face.”

Dr Parsons, who carried out the post-mortem after seeing a police summary of the alleged incident and looking at CCTV images, later told the jury that “Mr Ortega appears to make no attempt to break his fall” and suggested the punch “may have rendered him unconscious and therefore unable to break his fall”.

He suggested the impact from the fist precipitated “an accelerated fall backwards”.

Dr Parsons told the court he “absolutely” stands by his examination conclusions, which stated: “Jorge Ortega died as the result of a severe blunt force head injury, the pattern of which is characteristic of a heavy impact to the back of the head.

“He had also sustained soft tissue injuries around the right eye that would support a heavy punch to the face being the event that precipitated an accelerated fall to the ground and setting in motion the sequence of clinical events that resulted in death.”

The RMT union has previously said Mr Ortega was one of its members who worked as a customer experience assistant for MTREL, which runs the Elizabeth Line.

At the end of the Tuesday’s hearing, defence counsel Nicola Shannon KC said: “I do not intend to call any evidence on behalf” of the defendant.