Pubgoer who killed grandad with single punch days before Christmas found guilty

Nathan Gothard, 37, knocked David Darke to the ground near a pub in Appleby Magna, Leicestershire, days before Christmas last year, causing his skull to crack

A pub-goer who fatally punched a 66-year-old grandfather after losing a fight outside a pub has been found guilty of manslaughter.

Nathan Gothard, 37, knocked David Darke to the ground near the Crown Inn in Appleby Magna, Leicestershire, days before Christmas last year, causing his skull to crack.

Gothard denied murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter ahead of a trial at Leicester Crown Court, but was today convicted by jurors of the less serious offence after around two and a half hours of deliberations.

Darke, who stood in the dock with his head bowed after the guilty verdict was returned, was unanimously cleared of murder.

Prosecutors said Gothard had made “unwelcome advances and remarks” towards women in a group with Mr Darke, who had been at their staff Christmas party at the Crown Inn on the evening of December 21.

Jurors were told Gothard’s behaviour caused a “menacing, threatening, argumentative and disputing” atmosphere, and made it clear “it was his terrain – they were in his pub”.

After being escorted from the pub by the landlady and her partner, Gothard got into a fight with a man called Ty Fern, who he had been “riling and niggling” in the bar. Gothard was knocked to the ground and kicked before Mr Darke helped him to his feet, prosecutor Peter Joyce KC said.

Mr Joyce had told jurors in his opening speech: “The defendant, in his rage, after losing the fight he had picked, attacked Mr Darke to save his own face.”

Gothard claimed he was in fear of Mr Darke, who he said “threatened to bury me and put me in the ground”. He claimed Mr Darke was not helping him to his feet, but grabbed him “violently”.

Gothard told jurors: “I have lashed out and hit him because I thought I was going to be attacked again. I threw a single punch. A pre-emptive strike to stop being assaulted again.”

Judge William Harbage KC told the defendant he can expect to be handed a “significant custodial sentence”.

Gothard, of Church Street, Appleby Magna, will be sentenced on May 22.