Youth locked up for killing student

William Upton, 17, who had been drinking and looking for trouble, boasted on Facebook about landing the blow to the face of Adam Rogers, who was trying to calm down his attacker.

Upton had been causing trouble in a nightclub and it spilled over on to the street at around 3am on Sunday July 5th last year in Blackburn town centre.

As Mr Rogers, from Dukes Brow, Blackburn, tried to usher Upton away from the trouble he delivered a "fierce and powerful" blow instantly knocking his victim unconscious. His head hit the pavement with a thud without him able to break his fall, Preston Crown Court heard.

The 24-year-old, described as a "caring and thoughtful young man" who had recently graduated from the University of Cumbria with a sports coaching degree, died later that day in hospital from head injuries, without regaining consciousness.

Upton, who although just 16 at the time of the attack had a history of violence and had been drinking all day and all evening in pubs, fled the scene.

He tried to blame Mr Rogers but CCTV showed his victim trying to calm the defendant down.

The jury found him guilty of manslaughter. He will be detained for four years in a Young Offenders' Institute.

Upton had previously felled a man with a single blow and was cautioned for affray. He had also head-butted a schoolchild, and been given a fixed penalty notice for drunken behaviour.

Jonathon Seal and Antonio Clough, both 19, had previously pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm relating to the same incident. In March, Seal was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for two years and Clough was sentenced to 12 months in prison.