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.

The 37-year-old denied murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter, but was convicted of the less serious charge on Thursday.

Gothard - who stood in the dock with his head bowed after the guilty verdict was returned - was cleared of murder. He will be sentenced on 22 May.

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

Gothard, of Church Street, Appley Magna, told the court he was in fear of Darke, who he claimed "threatened to bury me and put me in the ground".

He said Darke 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."

Darke was taken to hospital and died a few days later, the trial heard.

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

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."