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.”
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