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Tennager killed man with one punch
19 Nov 2009A teenager was jailed for 20 months today for killing a man with a single punch in an unprovoked attack.
Darryl Church was just 17 years old when he walked up to William McNaught and threw a deadly punch.
The blow twisted Mr McNaught's neck, rupturing a vital artery and severed the flow of blood to his brain.
The 24-year-old was unconscious before he hit the ground in Abbeymead Avenue, Abbeymead, Gloucester on May 9 last year.
Church, now aged 18, of Curlew Close, Abbeymead, was sent to a young offenders' institution for 20 months after admitting manslaughter at an earlier hearing.
Bristol Crown Court heard today that Church was given a 12 month referral order in April 2008 after being convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
He was just 16 when he punched another teenager at a party fracturing his jaw and again rendering him unconscious.
At that time the altercation started with an argument over a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey between the victim and one of Church's friends.
In a chilling similarity, Mr Justice Burnett said today that the fatal blow to Mr McNaught came after a previous confrontation between Mr McNaught and the same friend.
Mr McNaught had been on a night out with his fiancee Nicole Brown and friends.
He had been drinking heavily, sparking an argument between him and Miss Brown who left him in a nightclub to go home.
Mr McNaught was found to have alcohol levels in his blood that would have been more than three times the legal drink drive limit.
After falling and hitting his head on a fence, Mr McNaught was being driven home by his sister and a friend and asked the driver to pull over when he saw Church and his group of friends drinking on the street.
Mr McNaught did not know Church but wanted to speak to his friend and so got out of the car.
Prosecutor Julian Kesner said that as he approached the group he had his hands by his side in a non-threatening way but was pushed away.
Church then walked over and threw his body weight behind a single punch to the left side of Mr McNaught's head.
Despite attempts to save his life, Mr McNaught was declared brain dead in hospital the next day and his life support machine was turned off.
In interviews Church at first denied he had hit Mr McNaught but then agreed that he had punched him because he thought "we were in trouble, that he was going to start".
Reader views (10)
@ Nigel, London
This was no accident or the tragic consequences of distraction. He was deliberately and without provocation punched. Deliberate violent acts that result in death should be prosecuted as murder with lengthy sentences if not life.
It is time to take society back from the control of the pathetic scumbag loving Liberal-Lefties. The message needs to be clear, you take a life you will be punished severely for it.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 19/11/2009 16:24
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When having your outburst about the twenty month sentence passed, please bear in mind that with early release he won't do much more than a year at most. Gotta keep those prison numbers down though, eh Gordon?
- Tom, London, 19/11/2009 16:06
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People should be punished for their actions and intent, not for the consequences. Punching someone is wrong, but you can't reasonably expect it to kill a 24-year old man. Lots of similar assults must happen every year, normally they don't cause worse than bruising. Many probably don't ever get reported to the police.
Take care what you wish for. Do you really want to risk being imprisoned for life, because you took your eyes off the road for a second or two and hit someone, who died as a result of a collision of the sort that usually doesn't even make anyone take time off work? That's punishment by consequences for you. There, but for the grace of God ....
- Nigel, London, 19/11/2009 15:58
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@Dom "20 months for killing someone in an unprovoked attack!! That is not justice."
This, sadly is British Justice under Nu Labour
- Mhmedia, Guildford, UK, 19/11/2009 15:55
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Well the trouble is your telly and (if you like) your computer screen are full of people punching each other every night: and the stunt man/woman always gets up ready for another round. The images are constantly available without showing a truthful account of what would actually happen if you punch someone with all your might: hardly surprising that to some people it seems like acceptable behaviour.
- Roz, France, 19/11/2009 15:27
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The laws in this nation are absurd. You could be jailed for far more time for uttering words banned in Labours politically correct society than killing someone. This man knew he had devastating punch and used it until it killed someone, shame on our laws and government for such a lenient punishment.
- Dirk Diggler, Soho, London, 19/11/2009 14:56
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This account is 'wooly' to say the least. -Did Mr McNaught approach the group agressively or not. (Unless we're talking queensbury rules, the position of his hands is irrelevant) -This would make the world of differences to the circumstances in which the punch was thrown.
And if Church throws such a punch, what a pity that his punching power wasn't spotted and channelled harmlessly into boxing sooner.
- Huggy, Cumbernauld Scotland, 19/11/2009 14:51
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OMG, he only got 20 months? 20 years would have been nearer the mark.
- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands, 19/11/2009 14:02
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20 months for killing someone in an unprovoked attack!! That is not justice.
- Dom, london, 19/11/2009 13:07
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Charming. He should have got 20 years not 20 months, even giving him the benefit of not intending to kill him.
- Squiz, Islington, 19/11/2009 12:55
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