A Nottinghamshire man has been jailed for eight years for killing a man with a single punch outside a seaside pizza parlour.
Christopher Coakley, 28, of Clipstone, denied murdering 47-year-old Whitby man Anthony Welford but admitted manslaughter.
Leeds Crown Court heard that Mr Welford, a father of three, was knocked to the ground and hit his head on the pavement following a mighty blow from Coakley, who was drunk and causing trouble inside the takeaway in Windsor Terrace, Whitby.
Prosecutor Katherine Robinson said Mr Welford, who was with friends, was acting as peacemaker and trying to calm Coakley down just moments before the incident in the early hours of February 24.
But Coakley turned on him and punched him in the face in the doorway of Porto Pizza.
Mr Welford was knocked unconscious after banging his head and was bleeding profusely.
An ambulance was called and Mr Welford was taken to James Cook Hospital, in Middlesbrough, where scans revealed a fractured skull.
His condition deteriorated and he developed brain damage and pneumonia.
He died three days later of a blood clot and multiple organ failure.
Coakley was arrested at a guest house in Whitby where he was staying with his girlfriend for a short break.
He claimed self-defence but judge Guy Kearl QC, the Recorder of Leeds, rubbished this claim.
The court heard that Coakley, of Palace Gardens, had previous convictions for violence and, in December 2017, received a suspended prison sentence for battery and assaulting a police officer.
His barrister, Richard Littler QC, said Coakley, a father of one who works as a plasterer, had alcohol problems.
The judge said the attack was premeditated and that he had noted Coakley’s predisposition for violence.
Coakley was jailed for eight years but will be released halfway through the sentence.
