Fourth jailing over student death

A 22-year-old man has been jailed for four years after admitting killing a fellow student during a brawl.

Richard Faustino, 22, from Cumbria, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Sion Hardy, from Bangor, Gwynedd.

Mr Hardy, 24, died after a fight started between a group of students in an underpass in Liverpool, the city's crown court was told.

Simon Taylor, Kevin O'Dea, and Thomas Canning were convicted of Mr Hardy's manslaughter at earlier hearings.

Taylor, from Ashton-in-Makerfield, Lancashire, and O'Dea, of County Donegal, Ireland, were both jailed for seven years in May last year. Canning, of Crickhowell, Powys, was sentenced to four years last February.

Although Faustino was initially arrested by police investigating Mr Hardy's death, he was later told he would not face prosecution.

The manslaughter charge was brought after the convictions of O'Dea and Taylor.

John McDermott QC, defending, described Faustino as of "not only good, but excellent character" who was the son of "decent and hard-working parents".

Mr McDermott said: "The particular tragedy of this incident is that otherwise decent young men find themselves in this position.

"Not only Sion Hardy, who lost his life, but all of the defendants whose lives have been blighted."

'Excess alcohol'

Mr McDermott said Faustino "did no aggressive act" while inside the tunnel and added the guilty plea came from his conscience.

He said: "(Faustino) says three of his friends have borne responsibility for this act and so should he."

The Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Henry Globe QC, acknowledged Faustino's role was not as direct as the other three but said to him: "For some reason, which can only be explained by male stubbornness and excess alcohol, the incident inside the club exploded outside.

"It may never be known who dealt the fatal blow which caused Sion Hardy's death. You accept you played a part in that group violence.

"Sion Hardy was effectively an innocent bystander at the time of the attack which led to a wasteful loss of life of a student of promise.

"It caused heartache, distress and shock to his family."

Heavy blow

He said it was "a sad fact of society" that incidents of violence were "frequently fuelled by excess alcohol".

During the hearings the court was told that trouble flared at a Liverpool nightclub between model and Manchester United corporate host O'Dea and Mr Hardy's school friend Stephen Lunn, who had allegedly pushed O'Dea's girlfriend.

When the club closed, Mr Hardy, Mr Lunn and another friend walked to the underpass at Wolstenholme Square, in the city centre, and were followed by O'Dea, Canning, Taylor and Faustino.

A fight began and 40 seconds later the four men emerged celebrating, the prosecution said.

Mr Hardy, a civic design student at Liverpool University, was taken to hospital on the night of the attack in November 2007 but died from a heavy blow to the left side of his neck.

At the Court of Appeal last Monday, judges rejected an appeal from O'Dea against his conviction, and appeals against sentence by Canning and Taylor.