Pub-goer guilty of killing man after losing fight

A pub-goer who fatally punched another man after losing a fight outside a bar in Leicestershire has been found guilty of 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 denied murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter, but was convicted of the less serious charge on Thursday.

The 37-year-old - who stood in the dock with his head bowed after the guilty verdict was returned - was cleared of murder. He will be sentenced at the same court on 22 May.

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

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

A group of people had come to the pub from their staff Christmas party at the Best Western Hotel on the other side of the village, the court was told.

Joyce said: "The defendant, Nathan Gothard, was already in the pub having arrived just before 4pm.

"During the course of the evening, Gothard began to behave inappropriately, making unwelcome advances and remarks to female members of the group who had come from the staff party and making clear to them it was his terrain - they were in his pub."

The court heard the landlady and her partner escorted Gothard - who lived three or four houses from the bar - 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 at" in the bar.

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

'A deeply loved father'

Gothard told the jury he was "dazed and confused" after he was punched by Fern, who knocked the glasses off his head.

The defendant, of Church Street, Appley Magna, told the court he was in fear of Darke, who he said was not helping him to his feet, but had grabbed him "violently".

He also claimed Darke "threatened to bury me and put me in the ground".

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."

Darke was taken to the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham and died on 27 December.

In a statement after his death, his family said Darke would be "sorely missed by all who knew and loved him".

"Dave was a deeply loved father to three daughters and a proud grandfather to three boys," they said.

"He was a much-loved brother and a dear friend. Dave will live on forever in our hearts, minds and souls. He was a strong, active, intelligent and kind person who was a friend to all.

"He was a devoted family man with a deep passion for life, the outdoors, nature and walking."

After the jury returned its guilty verdict, Judge William Harbage KC told Gothard he can expect to be handed a "significant custodial sentence".