A chef was killed by a single punch in a takeaway when he intervened in a trivial dispute over cheesy chips, a British court heard yesterday.
I have ruined my life and some family over one punch
Ricky Guest-Binns, 44, suffered a fatal bleed to the brain after he was felled by a blow to the side of his head from roofer Allan Glenny, 24, at the shop in Blackpool.
The defendant had complained to staff they had not melted cheese properly on a portion of chips he had ordered for his girlfriend and then exchanged words with several customers.
His victim is thought to have been ushering him out of the premises in the early hours of May 5 when Glenny turned around and swung a punch at him.
Glenny was yesterday jailed at Preston Crown Court for three years and four months after admitting manslaughter at a previous hearing.
The court was told the defendant hit another man in similar fashion moments later outside the Chicken Express takeaway in Caunce Street. His second victim, Daniel Rourke, was part of a group who were attempting to capture Glenny on their mobile phone cameras after he made off following the attack on Mr Guest-Binns.
The defendant was given an extra two months in prison for the admitted common assault of Mr Rourke.
Glenny, of Clinton Avenue, handed himself into police the same day of the incidents and admitted he was the culprit.
He confessed he drank “quite a lot of lager”, together with a number of spirits and also consumed a small amount of cocaine.
Joseph Allman, prosecuting, said Glenny told police: “I have ruined my life and some family over one punch. A few words have been exchanged and it’s just Blackpool, Friday night.”
Mr Allman said: “It is the prosecution’s case that Mr Guest-Binns did not do anything that could have provoked the assault upon him. It is appalling this incident should have happened over whether cheese had been melted on the defendant’s chips.”
He said the facts of the case had been pieced together from CCTV footage which captured the attack shortly before 1am and from various witness statements.