Student died in 'revenge attack'

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Sion Hardy left this nightclub minutes before he was attacked

A student from Bangor died in a fight in Liverpool when he and two friends were returning home from a night out, the city's crown court has been told.

The jury heard Sion Hardy, 24, was caught in a "revenge attack" in a row between his friend and another man.

The final year Liverpool University student and his friends were attacked in an underpass by four men.

Two of them, students Simon Taylor, 20, from Wigan, and Kevin O'Dea, 22, from Salford, deny murder and manslaughter.

Outlining the case on Wednesday, the prosecution claimed a chance meeting between Mr Hardy and his friend, Stephen Lunne, whom he knew from their home town, "almost certainly cost him his life".

Sion Hardy suffered a brain haemorrhage after being attacked

Tania Griffiths QC, prosecuting, said there had been trouble between Mr Lunne and Mr O'Dea which led to the violence and Mr Hardy "just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time".

The jury of nine women and three men heard Mr O'Dea had accused Mr Lunne weeks earlier of hitting his girlfriend in a nightclub.

There was another row between the pair, about beer being thrown or spilt on Mr O'Dea's girlfriend, on the night Mr Hardy died, they heard.

Ms Griffiths said Mr Hardy, Mr Lunne and a third friend, Osian Evans, left the Nation nightclub around 0230 GMT and were followed into the underpass in Wolstenholme Square by the defendants and their friends.

She said: "What Sion did not know, however, was that he was walking straight into a revenge attack planned by four men, including these two defendants.

"Trouble had indeed been brewing for a few weeks before that. There can be no doubt that such trouble had nothing to do with Sion Hardy.

"The prosecution say that he was an entirely innocent victim."

Mr Hardy and his friends were attacked in this underpass, the prosecution says

Ms Griffiths said the defendants, students at Liverpool John Moores University, and their friends, Richard Faustino and Thomas Canning, left the tunnel in "celebratory mood".

Mr Hardy, who was studying civic design and planning, was pronounced dead at the Royal Liverpool Hospital.

Mr O'Dea, a sports sciences student, was arrested the next day. The jury heard that three witnesses saw him hit Mr Hardy.

Mr Taylor, who was studying building surveying, went to police voluntarily the next day.

In a prepared statement, he told police he had been defending Mr Canning, whom he claimed was being punched by Mr Hardy. He also claimed Mr Hardy was punched "extremely hard to the head" by Mr Faustino.

The prosecution case is that it does not matter which of the four struck the fatal blow, saying they were part of a joint plan to commit unlawful violence with an intent to cause serious harm.

Mr Griffiths said: "There was only one fatal blow but each is responsible for that blow because it was in pursuance of that plan.

"Punching and kicking were certainly within the scope of that plan and something which each of these defendants would have realised might occur."

The trial continues.