A MAN has been jailed for five years for the manslaughter of another man who died more than a year after he was punched in a pub fight.

Leeds Crown Court heard Bret Thorp had already served a 20-month sentence after admitting causing grievous bodily harm to Robert Walker in a pub in Finkle Street, Selby on April 1, 2014 and affray.

But after spending more than a year in hospitals and a rehabilitation centre Mr Walker, 54, died on April 16, 2015.

Thorp, 27, recently of Spring Bank, Scarborough and formerly of Castleford, was then charged with his manslaughter which he denied and was facing trial this month but changed his plea to guilty in December.

Peter Moulson QC prosecuting said Mr Walker had gone out for the evening in 2014 with his partner and friends and were in the J. T. Mallenby pub when a man who was with Thorp became involved in an argument about money with a friend of Mr Walker.

A member of the bar staff described Thorp as becoming involved and “trying to wind people up” and told him to leave.

She walked him to the door but “without justification or warning” he returned and first punched the friend and then Mr Walker to his face. “The force of that blow rendered him immediately unconscious and he fell to the ground.”

York Press:

Mr Moulson said he struck his head and people were trying to attend to him as Thorp continued to cause trouble punching and kicking at other people. He also left the pub only to return and try to fight again.

Mr Walker was initially taken to York Hospital and then transferred to Hull Royal Infirmary where he had to have a craniotomy with a large piece of his skull being removed to relieve bleeding on the brain.

Although that was successful he suffered seizures. There was some improvement over the next five weeks and he was returned to York Hospital but he was still bed-bound and being fed through a tube with varying levels of consciousness.

He spent three and half months in hospital being he was transferred to a rehabilitation care home in Castleford in August 2014 dependent on care. In March 2015 he was admitted to Pinderfields Hospital with pneumonia and after further complications died on April 16.

Mr Walker’s daughter Samantha described in a victim impact statement the trauma of visiting him in hospital over those months and the effect on his family. “Those 12 months were some of the hardest of my life.”

She said her father was a “fun loving dad and grandad” and it saddened her the last memories of him were months in a hospital bed.

He would never see his first grandson born since his death. “Over absolutely nothing my dad has died.”

His daughter Carla Walker said: “I always imagine what my life would be like if my dad were still here.”

Mr Walker’s brother John said: “My parents should not have had to bury their son.”

Andrew Smith representing Thorp said his remorse was genuine.

“He concedes it was a seriously hard blow, a disgraceful piece of unprovoked violence” but he said since being released from the sentence he had already served he had been in no further trouble.

The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC told Thorp Mr Walker had died “one year and two weeks after he was assaulted by you in a public house in Selby.”

“This was not your argument but you involved yourself winding people up and you were the first to use violence.”

Initially that was against Mr Walker’s friend but then he punched Mr Walker and continued to cause trouble.

The judge said he had reduced the sentence taking into account what he had already served and his guilty plea “but this is a long, long way from a one punch manslaughter case.”