A boxer who killed a 20-year-old man with a single punch and also injured the victim's cousin has been put behind bars for ten years.
Brandon Sillence, aged 25, had been involved in an "aggressive and confrontational" moment before he hit Dean Skillin and Dean's cousin Taylor Lock.
A judge informed Sillence: "You would have punched your own shadow" on the night of the attack which happened outside of The Waverley Hotel in Bangor, Wales, on September 19, 2020.
Norths Wales Live reports that the sentencing hearing at Caernarfon Crown Court on December 17 came a day after a jury of six men and six women acquitted Sillence of murdering Dean.
However, he had admitted to manslaughter and committing assault causing ABH on Mr Lock.
The judge His Honour Judge Geraint Walters said Sillence had been "aggressive and confrontational" that night.
He would have been "prepared to punch your own shadow".
Police had already been called to Bangor city centre and were milling in a crowd of around 30 people looking for Covid breaches and any other trouble.
But the judge said Sillence impeded police and pretended to gag at an officer. "You were playing at being 'The big I am' (But) 30 seconds later you extinguished the life of a young man and injured another."
"You assaulted these two men effectively while surrounded by a number of police officers, not caring at all."
The court heard that Sillence had had a dreadful upbringing but that there were no excuses for his behaviour. He had hit Dean so violently that his head had rotated causing a fracture at the top of his spine and a catastrophic brain bleed.
But as first responders desperately tried to perform CPR on the unconscious victim the defendant Sillence showed no surprise. He merely waited to be arrested.
That made the judge conclude that he intended to cause "significant harm" to both Dean and Mr Lock. He added his motivation had been a wish to "demonstrate his self-worth".
But the judge accepted that Sillence felt "regret" at what happened.
The judge jailed Sillence to 10 years imprisonment for the manslaughter of Dean and one year for assault occasioning actual bodily harm on Mr Lock, to run concurrently to the main sentence.
But he told the family that judges are acutely aware that no sentence will ever reflect the loss of a loved one. Courts are compelled to follow the guidelines laid out by others.
Speaking after sentencing, Detective Inspector Jon Russell said: “Whilst Sillence was cleared of murder, he took the life of an innocent man, and whilst no sentence will ever bring Dean back, I hope that today’s events provide some small amount of justice to his family.
“People who perpetrate acts of violence should be in doubt that we will relentlessly pursue them. Those who bring misery and pain to innocent people through their reckless actions will continue to be put before the courts.
“We are committed to making north Wales the safest place in the UK.”
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