Boxer could have killed man with 'cowardly punch' from behind...

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Boxer could have killed man with 'cowardly punch' from behind...

Postby dutchman » Thu Apr 15, 2021 8:30 pm

Iain Thornton attacked his victim outside the Moo Bar in Leamington Spa

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A trained boxer punched a man from behind outside a bar leaving him with a fractured skull after smashing his head off the floor.

The victim suffered swelling to his brain and was "lucky" to escape life-changing injuries or even death, a judge said as he jailed the attacker, Iain Thornton, for 20 months.

The "cowardly punch" was thrown by Thornton after James de-Silva turned down the challenge of a fight with three other men, saying "I’m not stupid".

The group then spoke to Thornton who approached Mr de-Silva from behind and landed the powerful blow.

Thornton, 22, of Grayswood Avenue, Chapelfields, Coventry, was jailed at Warwick Crown Court after he admitted a charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Jailing Thornton, Recorder Charles Falk told him: “On that night you two were not known to each other, and I can see no provocation or justification for what you did.

“All he was doing was standing outside a bar at 2am. You were in a group, and that group offered to fight him, and he very sensibly declined. Three-on-one has always been cowardly odds.

“One of that group said something to you, and then you went over the road and you threw a very strong punch to the face from behind.

“It was a cowardly punch because he had no opportunity to see it coming or defend himself, and it’s not lost on me that you are a trained boxer, someone who is trained to put all his weight behind a punch.

“This is one of those awful cases where he struck his head on the floor and was knocked unconscious.

“He was lucky to some extent, and you were lucky to some extent, because people who hit their head on the floor can suffer bleeding to the brain and life-changing injuries or even death.”

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