Fatal assault as friends talked

Sion Hardy met Stephen Lunne by chance just before they were attacked

A childhood friend of a man who died after being caught up in a "revenge attack" has described the moment they were set upon by four men.

Sion Hardy, 24, died after the assault in a Liverpool underpass moments after meeting Stephen Lunne, who he knew from their school days in Bangor, Gwynedd.

Mr Lunne broke down giving evidence at the Liverpool Crown Court trial.

Students Simon Taylor, 20, from Wigan, and Kevin O'Dea, 22, from Salford, deny murder and manslaughter.

The prosecution claims a feud between Mr O'Dea and Mr Lunne led to violence after Mr Lunne left a nightclub in Liverpool city centre in November last year.

It is claimed Mr Hardy was an innocent victim who simply "just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time".

I went over to him to check if he was OK and he appeared unconscious Stephen Lunne

Giving evidence on the second day of the trial, Mr Lunne said he had known Mr Hardy well because they had been at school together, although they had not been speaking to each other for about a year.

He told the court Mr Hardy saw him outside the club and nodded to him in acknowledgement but he did not return the nod.

He said Mr Hardy then gestured as if he wanted Mr Lunne to follow him. Mr Lunne said he followed Mr Hardy because he thought his friend from his home town wanted to talk to him.

He described how the two of them stopped to talk inside the tunnel but, before they could begin, a man called Tom Canning suddenly ran at Mr Lunne and threw a punch, which missed.

Mr Hardy died after being attacked in this underpass, the prosecution claims

The court heard a friend of Mr Lunne's, Osian Evans, was nearby and began fighting with Mr Canning.

Mr Lunne said he then saw Kevin O'Dea running at him. He said Mr O'Dea swung a punch at him, which missed, and carried on running through the tunnel.

He said two other men ran past him and someone then called to Mr Canning, who stopped fighting with Mr Evans and ran off.

Mr Lunne said he saw Mr Hardy was lying slumped down further into the tunnel.

He said: "I went over to him to check if he was OK and he appeared unconscious."

At this point Mr Lunne became too upset to continue giving his evidence.

Four men

After a 10-minute break, he told the jury about 10 people had gathered in the tunnel before the ambulance arrived including a trainee doctor who attended to Mr Hardy.

Mr Hardy, who was studying civic design and planning at Liverpool University, suffered a brain hemhorrhage and was pronounced dead at the Royal Liverpool Hospital.

On Tuesday the prosecution claimed that two others involved in the attack were the defendants, Mr Canning and Richard Faustino.

The trial heard Mr Taylor gave a written statement to police saying he had defended Mr Canning, who he claimed was being punched by Mr Hardy.

He also claimed Mr Hardy was punched "extremely hard to the head" by Mr Faustino.

The jury have heard the feud between Mr Lunne and Mr O'Dea began weeks earlier when Mr O'Dea accused Mr Lunne of hitting his girlfriend in a nightclub.

They have also heard that on the night Mr Hardy died there had been a claim that beer had been thrown or spilt on Mr O'Dea's girlfriend.

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

The trial continues.