Man is guilty of student killing


Sion Hardy suffered a brain haemorrhage after the attack



A man has been found guilty of killing a student who died following an assault in an underpass.
Simon Taylor, 20, from Wigan, was convicted of the manslaughter of Sion Hardy, 24, of Bangor, Gwynedd following a night out in November 2007.
He was cleared of murder.
The jury at Liverpool Crown Court is still considering a charge of manslaughter against co-accused Kevin O'Dea, 22, of County Donegal.
Mr Hardy, who had been socialising in the Nation nightclub in Liverpool with friends, died after receiving a blow to the neck in an assault in an underpass as he walked home.
A student at Liverpool University's department of civic design, he suffered a brain haemorrhage and was pronounced dead at the Royal Liverpool Hospital.
Mr Hardy died after being attacked in this underpass



The prosecution claimed the defendants were 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.
The prosecution claimed Taylor, Mr O'Dea and two other men, Richard Faustino and Tom Canning, attacked Mr Hardy's friend Stephen Lunne following a night out and Mr Hardy became innocently caught up with it.
Mr Hardy "happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Tania Griffiths QC, prosecuting.
The jury heard how Mr Hardy had only just met with Mr Lunne, who he knew from their school days in Bangor, when the attack began.
Simon Taylor has been found guilty of manslaughter



The prosecution said a feud between Mr O'Dea and Mr Lunne led to the violence and that the two defendants along with their two friends planned a revenge attack.
Taylor admitted to the court he hit his victim in the face three times and said this was because he was attacking a friend in an underpass.
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. Witnesses to the attack said they saw Mr Hardy getting punched and repeatedly kicked. The jury was also told that Taylor, a student, had a conviction for attacking a police officer.