Former boxing champion handed 18-month sentence for ‘single punch’ killing

A former teenage boxing champion was on Friday handed an 18-month custodial sentence and will spend a further two and a half years on licence for killing a man in a so-called ‘single punch’ incident.

Last month at Dungannon Crown Court, 19-year-old Christopher McLean from Main Street in Gortin pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Darren McBrearty who was felled with a single punch outside Tipplers Bar in Omagh on a Sunday summers evening in August last year.

Prosecuting QC Ciaran Murphy described: “This was an assault delivered in a manner which was serious and effectively drove the deceased backwards and had the devastating consequences of the injuries that occurred.”

He told the court witnesses had recounted how the two men had been involved in a verbal altercation earlier in the bar but that outside, the unconscious Mr McBrearty had fallen backwards “like a plank” after being punched a single time by McLean.

Mr McBrearty, himself a martial arts black belt, hit the back of his head on the ground, fracturing his skull and causing an “acute subdural haematoma” which was to prove fatal.

The court heard that as his victim fell, McLean clenched his fists and yelled “boom” but was then struck by the bar’s doorman before running away with police arresting him later that night.

Friends and family of his victim filled the public gallery, many of them wiping away tears.

Defence QC Mark Mulholland described the event as "a tragedy for all concerned" which would have a "marked impact" on the rest of McLean's life.

He said McLean, who was a national boxing champion as a youth, had displayed genuine remorse and accepted responsibility for his wrongdoing.

McLean still maintains however that there was an element of self defence to his actions, claims refuted by the prosecution.

“He felt he was going to be hit so he hit first,” said Mr Mulholland adding that he had used his left, non-dominant hand to hit Mr McBrearty.

Jailing McLean, Her Honour Judge McReynolds said it was clear that Mr McBrearty’s parents and siblings would never recover from their loss, adding that the birth of his nephew had been “rendered a bittersweet occasion as will be every family event with him always in their thoughts.”

She said he had been “respected and loved in equal measure” and that McLean’s use of force was disproportionate to any verbal dispute that may have occurred between them in the bar earlier that evening.

The judge added however that in mitigation, this was a single punch incident with no weapon involved, that McLean had pleaded guilty, was just 18 at the time and he had shown remorse for the death.