Pub-goer jailed for killer punch after losing fight

A pub-goer who fatally punched another man after losing a fight outside a bar in Leicestershire has been jailed for manslaughter.

Leicester Crown Court heard Nathan Gothard knocked David Darke, 66, to the ground near The Crown Inn in Appleby Magna days before Christmas last year, causing his skull to crack. Darke died in hospital six days later.

Gothard, 37, was cleared of murder, but convicted of an alternative charge of manslaughter earlier this month. He was sentenced on Friday to 10 years.

Judge William Harbage KC told him: "If you had gone home when you were encouraged to do so, David Darke would still be alive and you would not be in the dock."

The trial heard Darke had helped pull the defendant to his feet after the killer lost the initial fight on 21 December. In his rage, Gothard then "attacked Mr Darke to save his own face".

Passing sentence, Harbage said the victim was a "much-loved" father of three daughters and an "inspiration to his family for whom Christmas will never be the same again".

He told Gothard: "You punched him so hard that he was unconscious before he had hit the ground.

"This was a tragic, senseless and unnecessary act of fatal violence."

At the trial, prosecutor Peter Joyce KC told jurors the atmosphere in The Crown Inn had been "menacing, threatening, argumentative and disputing" because of Gothard's behaviour.

Joyce said Gothard, of Church Street, Appleby Magna, had been "making unwelcome advances and remarks to female members of a group" and "making clear to them it was his terrain - they were in his pub".

The court heard the landlady and her partner escorted Gothard away to "calm the situation down".

But instead of going home, Gothard got into a fight with a man who he had been "riling and niggling and irritating" in the bar.

Jurors were shown CCTV of a man called Ty Fern knocking Gothard to the ground and kicking him outside the pub.

The defendant had argued he was in fear of Darke, who he said was not helping him to his feet, but had grabbed him "violently".

Gothard told jurors: "I have lashed out and hit him, because I thought I was going to be attacked again.

"I threw a single punch. A pre-emptive strike to stop being assaulted again."

All three of the victim's adult daughters made victim impact statements to the court, with one describing her father as a "courageous, kind and honest" man who would not ignore wrongdoing.

In a statement issued after the sentencing, the victim's relatives said: "Dave's only 'crime' that night was stepping in the way of a thug intent on harassing the women and antagonising the men in the group.

"Dave was a much-loved father, brother, grandfather, and friend. He was a strong, fit, hardworking man who lived honestly and treated people with respect.

"He was an accomplished craftsman who could turn his hand to anything, and there was very little he could not fix or build. He had always worked hard and was looking forward to retirement and enjoying the next chapter of life with his family.

"What makes this even harder to accept is that it was completely avoidable. If Gothard had simply gone home when he was told to, Dave would still be here today."

Additional reporting from PA Media.

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