{"id":598062,"date":"2025-11-27T23:05:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T23:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/598062\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T23:05:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T23:05:25","slug":"family-of-birmingham-man-killed-by-friend-just-before-christmas-speak-for-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/598062\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of Birmingham man killed by ‘friend’ just before Christmas speak for first time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrew Behan admitted in court to the manslaughter of Francis Leitner<\/p>\n

18:25, 27 Nov 2025Updated 18:26, 27 Nov 2025<\/p>\n

\"AndrewAndrew Behan pleaded guilty to manslaughter in relation to killing his friend Francis Leitner(Image: West Midlands Police)<\/p>\n

The heartbroken family of a man who was killed by his ‘friend’ have said they are “still in disbelief.”<\/p>\n

Andrew Behan admitted to the manslaughter of Francis Leitner who died in hospital two days before Christmas<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

Behan and Francis had been to an off-licence in Kingstanding to buy alcohol on the afternoon of December 21 and Behan was seen to headbutt the other man outside the shop.<\/p>\n

Read More: Crying killer’s five-word response as he’s jailed for brutal attacks to friend<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The pair then took a taxi back to a property in Witton where Behan’s assault on Francis continued, with him grabbing his victim’s phone and punching him.<\/p>\n

The 45-year-old was taken to hospital where he was found to have a large bleed on his brain and he sadly died from his injuries on Monday, December 23.<\/p>\n

Get breaking news on <\/strong>BirminghamLive WhatsApp<\/a>, click the link to join<\/strong><\/p>\n

Behan, aged 41, of Wyrley Road, Aston, was arrested and charged.<\/p>\n

At a hearing at Birmingham<\/a> Crown Court on Friday (1 Nov) he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and yesterday (Wed) he was jailed for six years and seven months.<\/p>\n

In tribute to Mr Leitner his family said: “We are still in disbelief, deeply saddened and hope that justice will be served.”<\/p>\n

Appearing on a video-link from HMP Hewell in Worcestershire<\/a> Behan was seen to bow his head and sob throughout the hearing.<\/p>\n

After learning his fate Behan said: “I’m sorry to the family.”<\/p>\n

Det Insp Michelle Cordell, from West Midlands Police’s Homicide team, said: “The violence Andrew Behan used against Francis Leitner that day was unnecessary, and sadly ended his life.<\/p>\n

“Our thoughts remain with Francis\u2019 family and loved ones and I hope today\u2019s sentence offers comfort to them, as they navigate their future without him.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrew Behan admitted in court to the manslaughter of Francis Leitner 18:25, 27 Nov 2025Updated 18:26, 27 Nov…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,30,188,393,4884,19657,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-598062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-courts","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-kingstanding-and-oscott","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115624170893613414","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}