Man United host cleared of murder

The judge directed a not guilty verdict against one of two men charged with murdering a Gwynedd student

A corporate match day host at Manchester United has been cleared of murdering a student from Bangor on the directions of a trial judge.

Sion Hardy, 24, died after an assault in an underpass in Liverpool.

Kevin O'Dea, 22, from Salford, who is also a former student and barman, still faces a manslaughter charge at Liverpool Crown Court.

The judge has ruled there was insufficient evidence, which made a murder conviction "unsustainable".

Fellow student Simon Taylor, 20, from Wigan, denies murder and manslaughter at the trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

Mr Hardy, who had been socialising with friends, died after receiving a blow to the neck in November 2007.

The prosecution say the defendants are responsible for his death but after one witness failed to identify Mr O'Dea as having attacked Mr Hardy, Judge Henry Globe QC directed the jury to find him not guilty of murder.

Mr Hardy, a student at Liverpool University's department of civic design, suffered a brain haemorrhage and was pronounced dead at the Royal Liverpool Hospital.

The judge said the evidence against Mr O'Dea was "unsustainable" to convict of murder.

Mr O'Dea, originally from County Donegal in Ireland, also works as a cocktail barman and studied sports science at Liverpool John Moores University.

Mr O'Dea said he began the night drinking Amaretto and Coke but denied wanting to fight at the nightclub before Mr Hardy was killed.

Under questioning from his barrister Richard Pratt QC, he said he did not want to get involved in any trouble.

Mr O'Dea denies manslaughter and Mr Taylor denies murder and manslaughter.