An ex-boxer has been jailed for killing his brother with a single punch after a "stupid argument" over sexual comments.
Brothers Dominic Robson and Jordan Bell had met up for a drink and a catch up in Sunderland on July 10 last year, Chronicle Live reports.
It's understood fork lift truck driver Robson became irritated after Jordan made comments or jokes about his partner while they were in Joseph's bar.
The animosity seemed to have calmed when Jordan, 27, who was drunk and unsteady on his feet, left the pub with Robson, and his girlfriend.
However, after they made their way outside, Robson, who had three amateur boxing bouts and had trained for six or seven years, swung a punch at his brother, knocking him over and causing fatal injuries when he hit his head on the ground.
Robson, 26, of Birchwood, South Hylton, Sunderland, who had been adopted by another family as a child, pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier year and has now been jailed for five years and two months at Newcastle Crown Court.
As he was locked up, emotional victim impact statements were read from Jordan's parents and sister.
Jordan's family had to make the heartbreaking decision to switch off his life support machine in hospital, where he died two weeks after the punch.
Dad Andrew Bell works with people who have suffered brain injuries and knew how serious Jordan's prognosis was, the court heard.
Mr Bell said: "I have had my very soul ripped out and there's nothing to replace it."
Jordan's mother, Tracy, added: "After years of trying, we had our perfect family - that has all been taken away.
"Why us? My heart has been ripped out."
She added: "Jordan, your mum loves you and always will, I really can't believe you have gone.
"Life will never be the same again.
"We have to live with this torture for the rest of our lives."
Sister Sarah Bell struggled to explain her feelings if anyone asked if she wanted to talk about what happened, saying: "How can you comprehend one brother killing another? Well, you just can't."
Miss Bell said on the night before Jordan passed away, she had heard her parents, who had to make the unbearable decision to switch off his ventilator, talking in the early hours of the morning.
She said: "I heard my parents cry. I heard my dad cry for the first time in my life."
A bouncer in Joseph's bar witnessed the exchange between the brothers when they fell out.
Prosecutor Shaun Dodds said previously: "The pair of them were engaged in a heated argument and the defendant was being aggressive, pointing at the other man, who was more defensive.
"The defendant was annoyed at certain inappropriate sexual comments Jordan Bell had made to his girlfriend."
Jordan was found by police just before 9pm and was unresponsive and had blood coming from his ear. An ambulance was called and he was taken to the RVI in Newcastle.
A CT scan revealed bleeding to his brain and a fractured skull to the back of his head.
He had a craniotomy and over the following days he suffered seizures, a lack of blood supply to his brain and issues with pressure in the brain.
He died on July 24, the primary cause being a viral infection to the brain which prosecutors said was "almost certainly" a reaction to the physical trauma he had endured or the surgery for it.
When he was interviewed by police, Robson, who walked off with his partner afterwards, said his brother had been "saying sexual jokes towards his girlfriend", Mr Dodds said.
Shaun Routledge, defending, said Robson, who had a previous conviction for battery after hitting someone in Sunderland, was full of remorse and that the punch was not premeditated.
He said: "This second or couple of seconds of madness probably came about as a result of a lack of rational thought.
"This is a really tragic case. There was no animosity between the brothers but for a stupid argument between the pair of them which might have lasted five minutes."
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