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Dublin: 14 °C Tuesday 21 May, 2013

Briton jailed for killing Australian with punch

A former boxer was jailed for seven years for killing a stranger with one punch in a dispute outside a London pub.

Image: Johnny Green/PA Wire

A BRITISH EX-BOXER was jailed for seven years on Monday for killing a stranger with one punch in a dispute outside a London pub.

Graham Brett, 50, pleaded guilty Monday to the manslaughter of 49-year-old Australian Neil Hannah, who was knocked unconscious with one punch to the jaw.

Hannah fell backwards and suffered a brain injury, dying five days later on August 7 last year, England’s Old Bailey central criminal court heard.

Brett had drunk seven pints of beer and taken cocaine by about 10:20 pm local time when he took exception to Hannah and asked him to go outside the pub in Pimlico, central London.

Brett, who fought 70 amateur bouts, threw a right hook at Hannah without warning or provocation.

He was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment with another three years added as an extended sentence for public safety.

“You are a trained boxer,” judge Jeremy Stuart-Smith told Brett.

“You used that training to position yourself and deliver the punch. This was an unprovoked attack.”

Police Detective Inspector Simon Pickford said afterwards: “Brett has a history of violence and as a boxer would have known that his forceful blow was likely to send Mr Hannah to the floor.

“While Brett may not have intended to kill his victim, I have little doubt that he is a violent thug who fully deserves to spend a lengthy period of time behind bars.”

- © AFP, 2013

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Comments (17 Comments)

  • 50 years of age and him sniffing coke and starting fights, useless fool, 7 years is good enough for him..

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  • Nobody mentioned the poor Australian man family and the loss they have suffered because of this yob. 7 years is not enough for killing someone and he should rot in prison. That Australian man won’t be resurrected in 7 years

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  • Dirty animal should be locked up for life.

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  • Good enough for him! Ireland should ship that judge over for free!

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  • I boxed for a long time growing up and into my late teens. Would never ever hit someone the way i know Im capable of doing. Dirty animal is dead right. 7years is no where near long

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  • Amazing. A polish security guard in town punched an irish man a few years ago and the irish man died but the polish person got away with and was considered a complete accident.

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    • Unless you heard all the evidence you’re not equipped to judge whether the verdict was fair or not.

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    • I have my doubts the verdict was death by accident.

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    • Philip, I heard of an Irish guy punching a Lithuanian here … and the guy died.. and the Irish guy got off with a manslaughter charge,
      I heard of an Irish guy punching another Irish guy with one punch, killing him … he got off on all charges… Seriously … what point are you trying to make? … you are a little bit muddled… are you a Drunk, alcoholic abusive drug taker rapist ….. or … are you trying to draw some sort of correlation to something your heard in the pub, without facts to back up your obvious innuendo?

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    • I gave u a thumbs up before i seen the language u used towards phillip, no need for it.

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    • Les, you are right … i shouldn’t lower myself to the stereoptypes … but i was hoping to highlight and educate to the less well informed that bad things happen all the time… the cases i quoted are real. I really hope that people learn not to generalise that the actions of a few should not be attributed to everyone. Otherwise, the drunken, drug-taking, partying, violent Irish are in for a rough ride … i hope you see where i am coming from.

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    • Les, you are right … i shouldn’t lower myself to the stereotypes. but i was hoping to highlight and educate to the less well informed that bad things happen all the time.. the cases i quoted are real. I really hope that people learn not to generalize that the actions of a few should not be attributed to everyone. Otherwise, the drunken, drug-taking, partying, violent Irish are in for a rough ride ..i hope you see where i am coming from.

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    • Ha ha. What a funny little ranter you are. No I dont drink I would rather spend money on something else other than piss it up a wall 10 minutes later so no I didn’t hear it in a pub. The point im making is justice system in ireland doesnt work so ill end that part by calling you a smart arse. The story I told was news told by news reporters. Maybe they heard it in a pub. Just because you didn’t hear news doesnt mean it didnt happen. Also intelligence isnt great everytime. Sometimes its nice to play dumb. I await your next comment that will educate me

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  • Amputation of his right hand, still wouldn’t be good enough punishment for him, the savage.

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