I know someone who were punched once and suffered life changing injuries from it. The problem is that when something like this happens there isn’t an intent to kill or severely injure someone as daft as that sounds. So it is a tough place for the law to be in because what might do a lot of damage or kill one person, doesn’t do the same to another.
Now do I think 2 years is a long enough time, definitely not for such an attack like this especially when it is unprovoked. So circumstances do play a part on the sentencing. Considering that life is only 15 years for murder and this is technically manslaughter which has a life sentence but up to the judge. Would it be fair to say if you take a life you serve life? Again depends on the circumstances.
For unprovoked attacks like this it should be a minimum of 5 years and then parole for another 5 years. If you do anything wrong like assault then back to prison you go.
Just a reminder to never ever get into fights. Life isnt a marvel movie, you cant take 100 punches. Someone spills a drink on you? No worries bro, someone disrespects your mrs? Leave. Youre very rarely going to be in a 1v1 and fights dont stop when youre on the floor feeling your nose explode as someone boots you in the head, calls you a cnt and spits on you.
Life changing injuries are scarily easy. Avoid fights at all costs.
What would be the point?
Is it just about revenge?
I don’t think greater sentences would be a deterrent in this case.
For young men, drinking and fighting are a rite of passage in provincial towns across the UK.
Few people think that someone is going to die after one punch. Particularly when they have had a skin full.
The solutions to this are cultural changed and increased numbers of police.
Back of the head, there’s never any need. You can’t see it coming, can’t get out of the way, can’t block, can’t even brace, shite patter..
People have to realise that attacking someone in anything other than self defence is simply not acceptable or justifiable in civil society. I know people that brag about being in bar fights and I just think they’re little more than animals. Get a grip, you could end someone’s life.
The harshness of the sentence does not disincentivise crime anywhere near as much as the perceived chance of getting caught does. What needs to happen is a crackdown on the “low level” violent behaviour, starting with school kids, to make it clear to people that getting into any fights at all will be taken seriously.
I went to school with Bradley, although I wasn’t close with him everyone knew he was lovely.
It’s a tricky one. If someone punched me unprovoked and I just got a black eye the police would likely do nothing. But if the exact same thing resulted in my death they will get a custodial sentance. With a single punch there is rarely any intent to do someone serious harm, let alone kill them.
I would say 5 years minimum sentance if the attack was unprovoked. Other factors like previous violent cri. Es etc should be considered when sentancing, becasue if this is a patern of behaviour and they’ve just killed someone with a single punch they are very high risk to the public.
If there was provocation it would be a different t matter imo
.
Two people I know, not terribly well, have died under circumstances like this. One was killed when he objected to a couple of neds skipping a taxi queue. The other just randomly hit outside a pub, caught in a fight he had nothing to do with.
I doubt in either case they meant to kill but that’s what happened. Even if you didn’t set out to kill someone over a place in a queue that’s what happened and the public needs to be protected from the sort of person who is prepared to go around attacking strangers for very little.
If you start a fight and kill someone then you should be looking at least 10 years in jail.
Two years in jail for killing someone in an unprovoked attack.
There are too many men who think it’s fine to start throwing punches to settle arguments or for perceived slights, especially when they’ve had a drink.
The punishments need to be upped for just about everything I come from a small town and there’s people in there 20s with like 40-50 offences under there belts. How on earth do you rack up them sort of numbers.
I was out on a night out when younger and this guy who must have been twice the size of me punched me in the face for not telling this random kid who I had never met before to go home as he was too drunk, had a massive black eye for a job interview violence is treated way to casually in this country.
To top it off the bouncers let him back in the pub after just watching him punch me in the face for no reason
A friend was killed by a single punch from a guy who was looking for a fight with absolutely anyone who got close enough.
He got 7 years and was released on licence after 3 years served.
He’d already been in and out of prison for assaults and ABH/GBH. And had been out for about 6 months when he killed my friend. Theres an extremely high chance that he’ll continue to offend and i wouldnt be surprised if he’s killed someone else before his period on licence ends.
The guy very clearly has issues with anger and aggression and its clear that nothing happening in prison is helping to address these at all AND prison itself isn’t acting as a deterrent.
Punching someone in the back of the head. You got to be a real shitty person
Two years for killing someone. Had they avoided paying tax they would have gotten 10 years. Government has their priorities.
I sympathise but what would it achieve? It isn’t meant to be a punishment but stopping the danger to the public. If the attacker had never done it before, isn’t a major risk to do it again, and if the punch happened to have landed differently then nothing may have happened at all.
I don’t see any reason to increase the punishment, the attacker punched the victim once and I don’t think the sentence should take into account that in this case it has lead to a fatality. The issue with this sort of thing is always that the attacker doesn’t think they will be caught so increasing the punishment won’t really have any effect.
Story from about 25 years ago in Manchester.
I saw 2 drunk big guys bump into a smaller guy who spilled his sauce with his chips.
He started shouting at them and they kind of looked at him bemused.
He they hit one of them and I watched in slow motion and he almost hit his head on a bollard on the way down.
I shouted for some police to come over which they did reluctantly.
The big guy was OK but an inch away from being seriously injured.
The police got everyone to apologise and that was it.
Not sure if things are different today but in one sense this could have been attempted murder.
They had a big campaign about this in Australia. They rebranded it “the coward’s punch” and ran awareness campaigns about it.
Criminals don’t think about the sentence before committing a crime. Tougher sentences do nothing to reduce crime.
We need to stop looking for pointless ‘justice’ and actually attack the root cause of crime while rehabilitating those who are in the system.
I hate the title of this article. It reads either as the man should have survived more than one punch, or that the person who did it ‘did it in one punch bravo’ kind of thing.
“Family of man killed in fight calls for tougher jail sentences” would have been a less cunty title.
We need cultural change to prevent things like this happening
When I posted one punch can kill a couple of months ago on a thread celebrating someone having a go I was unanimously slated.
Clearly a dangerously violent individual who will continue to pose a danger to the public.
Should be facing a lifetime of prison labour. Not free on the streets to attack again.
When it comes to the UK justice system any sentence a con gets,9 times out of 10 half it and that will be there REAL sentence length.When someone gets 4 years in prison it should be 4 years and not half of that.I dont care about this good behaviour bullcrap.
The OP’s article doesn’t have even half the story. The killer turned his life around, met with the parents, and wrote a book. He talks about the lifestyle that brought him to punch strangers and shows remorse. Much deeper read in the below article.
Longer sentences (while continuing to neglect rehabilitation and prevention) will only increase the likelihood of this happening to a different family. That’s not justice.
It’s a cop out. A completely understandable one, given how emotional the issue is, but it’s ultimately rejecting scientific evidence in favour of emotions. No study has shown a decrease in any crime caused by higher sentences, because it’s completely ignorant as to what causes crime in the first place.
Witnessing domestic violence in youth, poverty, and untreated mental health issues are what (overwhelmingly) cause crime in the first instance. That’s what creates the aggression and lack of empathy required for instigating these fights. That’s what prevents the sense of self preservation developing, which completely prevents harsh consequences ever being considered in the moment of the crime. Prison doesn’t only fail to address these issues, it worsens them.
A kid may now suddenly grow up with only one parent, on one income stream – which increases the likelihood of poverty & mental health issues for that innocent child. Once the person leaves prison, they are left with very little legal opportunities to make enough money to survive, hence the ludicrously high recidivism rate. Not to mention how damaging years of isolation and lack of stimulation can be to the psyche. Yes, that’s better than what their victim got. But why are we still in this primitive, eye-for-an-eye style of justice? Justice isn’t held in the suffering of those who’ve done wrong; justice is held in the prevention of suffering happening to more people. But by simply throwing harsher punishments at the wall and hoping it sticks, we’re not not only pointlessly wasting hundreds of millions on a band aid, we’re actively increasing the likelihood of reoffending and innocent children growing up to become more violent.
Wouldn’t it be better if we spent these hundreds of millions on actual solutions, that are actually proven to decrease the likelihood of this happening to other people?
This happened to friends of mine years ago, my band was playing in a pub, loads of our friends were there, 2 mates got drunk and started toy fighting, one got accidentally punched in the throat, he died there and then, the guy that did it was his best friend, he has still never forgiven himself for what happened that night. We all lost a friend that night over something stupid.
Never any need to hit, shoot or otherwise injure someone other than to defend yourself.
When will people learn to just walk away. Run away if you have to. The only time you should ever fight is if your or your family’s life is in danger and there is no other option but to fight. Also , never engage in a fight if you aren’t willing to kill the aggressor as he is trying to kill you.
These are always completely avoidable situations its depressing af to read each time about some twat who had too much drink and sniff got leary and ruined multiple lives devastating families and ending any hope for himself of a rewarding life. Such a horrendous waste. Its often not actually the punch that does it but the unsupported fall.
Just like that guard by the coffin that time smashing into a solid concrete floor he was lucky not to cause a major injury or death its like someone hits you over the head. I fell on my nose once on a wet path, went down so quick didn’t even have time to put my hands out, was drunk but that still hurt bad but thanks to being given glass of milk for every meal living at home my bones were strong and my nose broke the fall.
i got punched, got concussed and easily could of cracked my skull.
I found the person on facebook, reported it and the police didn’t do anything
Not disagreeing with the family at all but also I think we need to realise that we as a nation 1) have one of the highest percentage of our population in prison in Europe (past us it’s almost entirely soviet bloc countries) at 131 per 100000 and 2) our prisons are pretty much full to bursting and run like shit because of years and years of ‘tougher sentences’ campaigns (which, yknow, it feels like if they were gonna reduce crime it would’ve worked by now).
People hate to hear it but the only way we can get past these issues is to try and do a decent job of rehabilitating people which currently we do a shocking job of. Going to prison once in this country is essentially a near-lifetime ban from 90% of jobs so our prisons are just turning people into career criminals.
33 comments
I know someone who were punched once and suffered life changing injuries from it. The problem is that when something like this happens there isn’t an intent to kill or severely injure someone as daft as that sounds. So it is a tough place for the law to be in because what might do a lot of damage or kill one person, doesn’t do the same to another.
Now do I think 2 years is a long enough time, definitely not for such an attack like this especially when it is unprovoked. So circumstances do play a part on the sentencing. Considering that life is only 15 years for murder and this is technically manslaughter which has a life sentence but up to the judge. Would it be fair to say if you take a life you serve life? Again depends on the circumstances.
For unprovoked attacks like this it should be a minimum of 5 years and then parole for another 5 years. If you do anything wrong like assault then back to prison you go.
Just a reminder to never ever get into fights. Life isnt a marvel movie, you cant take 100 punches. Someone spills a drink on you? No worries bro, someone disrespects your mrs? Leave. Youre very rarely going to be in a 1v1 and fights dont stop when youre on the floor feeling your nose explode as someone boots you in the head, calls you a cnt and spits on you.
Life changing injuries are scarily easy. Avoid fights at all costs.
What would be the point?
Is it just about revenge?
I don’t think greater sentences would be a deterrent in this case.
For young men, drinking and fighting are a rite of passage in provincial towns across the UK.
Few people think that someone is going to die after one punch. Particularly when they have had a skin full.
The solutions to this are cultural changed and increased numbers of police.
Back of the head, there’s never any need. You can’t see it coming, can’t get out of the way, can’t block, can’t even brace, shite patter..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98CWbGG2DJ0&list=PLBAuTFdNj7G_DB1fYKSlAaKR_iq9kyDDE&index=28
People have to realise that attacking someone in anything other than self defence is simply not acceptable or justifiable in civil society. I know people that brag about being in bar fights and I just think they’re little more than animals. Get a grip, you could end someone’s life.
The harshness of the sentence does not disincentivise crime anywhere near as much as the perceived chance of getting caught does. What needs to happen is a crackdown on the “low level” violent behaviour, starting with school kids, to make it clear to people that getting into any fights at all will be taken seriously.
I went to school with Bradley, although I wasn’t close with him everyone knew he was lovely.
It’s a tricky one. If someone punched me unprovoked and I just got a black eye the police would likely do nothing. But if the exact same thing resulted in my death they will get a custodial sentance. With a single punch there is rarely any intent to do someone serious harm, let alone kill them.
I would say 5 years minimum sentance if the attack was unprovoked. Other factors like previous violent cri. Es etc should be considered when sentancing, becasue if this is a patern of behaviour and they’ve just killed someone with a single punch they are very high risk to the public.
If there was provocation it would be a different t matter imo
.
Two people I know, not terribly well, have died under circumstances like this. One was killed when he objected to a couple of neds skipping a taxi queue. The other just randomly hit outside a pub, caught in a fight he had nothing to do with.
I doubt in either case they meant to kill but that’s what happened. Even if you didn’t set out to kill someone over a place in a queue that’s what happened and the public needs to be protected from the sort of person who is prepared to go around attacking strangers for very little.
If you start a fight and kill someone then you should be looking at least 10 years in jail.
Two years in jail for killing someone in an unprovoked attack.
There are too many men who think it’s fine to start throwing punches to settle arguments or for perceived slights, especially when they’ve had a drink.
The punishments need to be upped for just about everything I come from a small town and there’s people in there 20s with like 40-50 offences under there belts. How on earth do you rack up them sort of numbers.
I was out on a night out when younger and this guy who must have been twice the size of me punched me in the face for not telling this random kid who I had never met before to go home as he was too drunk, had a massive black eye for a job interview violence is treated way to casually in this country.
To top it off the bouncers let him back in the pub after just watching him punch me in the face for no reason
A friend was killed by a single punch from a guy who was looking for a fight with absolutely anyone who got close enough.
He got 7 years and was released on licence after 3 years served.
He’d already been in and out of prison for assaults and ABH/GBH. And had been out for about 6 months when he killed my friend. Theres an extremely high chance that he’ll continue to offend and i wouldnt be surprised if he’s killed someone else before his period on licence ends.
The guy very clearly has issues with anger and aggression and its clear that nothing happening in prison is helping to address these at all AND prison itself isn’t acting as a deterrent.
Punching someone in the back of the head. You got to be a real shitty person
Two years for killing someone. Had they avoided paying tax they would have gotten 10 years. Government has their priorities.
I sympathise but what would it achieve? It isn’t meant to be a punishment but stopping the danger to the public. If the attacker had never done it before, isn’t a major risk to do it again, and if the punch happened to have landed differently then nothing may have happened at all.
I don’t see any reason to increase the punishment, the attacker punched the victim once and I don’t think the sentence should take into account that in this case it has lead to a fatality. The issue with this sort of thing is always that the attacker doesn’t think they will be caught so increasing the punishment won’t really have any effect.
Story from about 25 years ago in Manchester.
I saw 2 drunk big guys bump into a smaller guy who spilled his sauce with his chips.
He started shouting at them and they kind of looked at him bemused.
He they hit one of them and I watched in slow motion and he almost hit his head on a bollard on the way down.
I shouted for some police to come over which they did reluctantly.
The big guy was OK but an inch away from being seriously injured.
The police got everyone to apologise and that was it.
Not sure if things are different today but in one sense this could have been attempted murder.
They had a big campaign about this in Australia. They rebranded it “the coward’s punch” and ran awareness campaigns about it.
https://cowardpunchcampaign.com/
Criminals don’t think about the sentence before committing a crime. Tougher sentences do nothing to reduce crime.
We need to stop looking for pointless ‘justice’ and actually attack the root cause of crime while rehabilitating those who are in the system.
I hate the title of this article. It reads either as the man should have survived more than one punch, or that the person who did it ‘did it in one punch bravo’ kind of thing.
“Family of man killed in fight calls for tougher jail sentences” would have been a less cunty title.
We need cultural change to prevent things like this happening
When I posted one punch can kill a couple of months ago on a thread celebrating someone having a go I was unanimously slated.
Clearly a dangerously violent individual who will continue to pose a danger to the public.
Should be facing a lifetime of prison labour. Not free on the streets to attack again.
When it comes to the UK justice system any sentence a con gets,9 times out of 10 half it and that will be there REAL sentence length.When someone gets 4 years in prison it should be 4 years and not half of that.I dont care about this good behaviour bullcrap.
The OP’s article doesn’t have even half the story. The killer turned his life around, met with the parents, and wrote a book. He talks about the lifestyle that brought him to punch strangers and shows remorse. Much deeper read in the below article.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/may/14/knew-bad-as-soon-as-hit-him-man-who-killed-a-stranger-with-single-punch-then-turned-his-life-around
Longer sentences (while continuing to neglect rehabilitation and prevention) will only increase the likelihood of this happening to a different family. That’s not justice.
It’s a cop out. A completely understandable one, given how emotional the issue is, but it’s ultimately rejecting scientific evidence in favour of emotions. No study has shown a decrease in any crime caused by higher sentences, because it’s completely ignorant as to what causes crime in the first place.
Witnessing domestic violence in youth, poverty, and untreated mental health issues are what (overwhelmingly) cause crime in the first instance. That’s what creates the aggression and lack of empathy required for instigating these fights. That’s what prevents the sense of self preservation developing, which completely prevents harsh consequences ever being considered in the moment of the crime. Prison doesn’t only fail to address these issues, it worsens them.
A kid may now suddenly grow up with only one parent, on one income stream – which increases the likelihood of poverty & mental health issues for that innocent child. Once the person leaves prison, they are left with very little legal opportunities to make enough money to survive, hence the ludicrously high recidivism rate. Not to mention how damaging years of isolation and lack of stimulation can be to the psyche. Yes, that’s better than what their victim got. But why are we still in this primitive, eye-for-an-eye style of justice? Justice isn’t held in the suffering of those who’ve done wrong; justice is held in the prevention of suffering happening to more people. But by simply throwing harsher punishments at the wall and hoping it sticks, we’re not not only pointlessly wasting hundreds of millions on a band aid, we’re actively increasing the likelihood of reoffending and innocent children growing up to become more violent.
Wouldn’t it be better if we spent these hundreds of millions on actual solutions, that are actually proven to decrease the likelihood of this happening to other people?
This happened to friends of mine years ago, my band was playing in a pub, loads of our friends were there, 2 mates got drunk and started toy fighting, one got accidentally punched in the throat, he died there and then, the guy that did it was his best friend, he has still never forgiven himself for what happened that night. We all lost a friend that night over something stupid.
Never any need to hit, shoot or otherwise injure someone other than to defend yourself.
When will people learn to just walk away. Run away if you have to. The only time you should ever fight is if your or your family’s life is in danger and there is no other option but to fight. Also , never engage in a fight if you aren’t willing to kill the aggressor as he is trying to kill you.
These are always completely avoidable situations its depressing af to read each time about some twat who had too much drink and sniff got leary and ruined multiple lives devastating families and ending any hope for himself of a rewarding life. Such a horrendous waste. Its often not actually the punch that does it but the unsupported fall.
Just like that guard by the coffin that time smashing into a solid concrete floor he was lucky not to cause a major injury or death its like someone hits you over the head. I fell on my nose once on a wet path, went down so quick didn’t even have time to put my hands out, was drunk but that still hurt bad but thanks to being given glass of milk for every meal living at home my bones were strong and my nose broke the fall.
i got punched, got concussed and easily could of cracked my skull.
I found the person on facebook, reported it and the police didn’t do anything
Not disagreeing with the family at all but also I think we need to realise that we as a nation 1) have one of the highest percentage of our population in prison in Europe (past us it’s almost entirely soviet bloc countries) at 131 per 100000 and 2) our prisons are pretty much full to bursting and run like shit because of years and years of ‘tougher sentences’ campaigns (which, yknow, it feels like if they were gonna reduce crime it would’ve worked by now).
People hate to hear it but the only way we can get past these issues is to try and do a decent job of rehabilitating people which currently we do a shocking job of. Going to prison once in this country is essentially a near-lifetime ban from 90% of jobs so our prisons are just turning people into career criminals.