Former professional boxer, 50, jailed for seven years for killing stranger with a single punch outside pub

Graham Brett, 50, punched 'gentle giant' Neil Hannah in unprovoked attack

Mr Hannah, 49, was knocked to the ground and suffered a brain injury

He died five days after attack outside Greyhound pub in Pimlico, London



Judge said it was a 'completely unjustified' attack on Mr Hannah

A former professional boxer has been jailed for seven years today for killing a stranger with a single punch outside a pub.

Graham Brett, 50, knocked Australian-born Neil Hannah, 49, unconscious with one punch to the jaw.

He toppled backwards and suffered a brain injury and died five days later on August 7.



Brett, from Pimlico, central London, pleaded guilty to manslaughter at the Old Bailey.



Former professional boxer Graham Brett, left, was jailed for seven years after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of 'gentle giant' Neil Hannah, right, who suffered a fatal brain injury in the attack



The court was told the pair had been drinking in the Greyhound pub in Pimlico when Brett took exception to Mr Hannah and called him outside.

He took his glasses off and aimed a right hook at Mr Hannah, who was described as a 'gentle giant'.



Brett fought as a light heavyweight in the early 1980s and recorded two wins and two losses in his professional career and also fought 70 amateur bouts.

Brett, who has a history of drunken violence, had downed seven pints on the night of the attack and taken cocaine.

He told police he was acting in self-defence after Mr Hannah called him a 'Pommie c**t'.

However, Gillian Etherton QC, prosecuting, said CCTV of the incident shows Brett took up the stance of an 'experienced boxer'.

She told the court: 'The assault on Mr Hannah was an unprovoked, gratuitous display of violence.'



After his boxing career ended, Brett coached at an amateur boxing club and worked on the railway network.

Brett punched Mr Hannah in the jaw outside the Greyhound pub in Pimlico and then carried on drinking inside

He has a history of alcohol abuse and convictions for violence stretching back to 1997.

Miss Etherton said: 'He has a long history of unprovoked violence and aggressive behaviour. As a result he has been banned from a large number of pubs, social clubs and a boxing club.

‘The locals in the area knew him and were frightened by him.’

Mr Hannah had lived in the UK for several years and was described as 'an unbelievably placid guy' and 'always jovial'.

CCTV shows the first contact between the two men took place at 10.12pm when Mr Hannah walked outside where Brett, who was celebrating a new job, was smoking a cigarette.

A few minutes after Mr Hannah went back inside, he was called onto the street by Brett.

The footage shows Mr Hannah raise his hands slightly before being punched in the face.

Brett then put his glasses back on and went inside to carry on drinking.

When he was arrested at home later that night Brett told police: ‘The geezer went to bite my nose off. I hit him and he went down.’

Mr Hannah was taken to hospital but a scan revealed two fractures to the back of his head and swelling of the brain which led to his death five days later.

The judge said Brett had launched a 'completely unjustified attack' as he sentenced him at the Old Bailey

Brett was due to stand trial for murder at the Old Bailey today but pleaded guilty to manslaughter, which was accepted by the prosecution following consultation with the victim's family.

The judge, Mr Justice Start-Smith, said: ‘Unnecessary violence in residential areas creates great and justified public concern.

‘Law-abiding citizens are entitled to go the pub and expect to be safe when they go for a drink.

‘The court has to do what they can to deter those who engage in gratuitous violence when they go out for a drink.’

He said Brett had launched an ‘unprovoked and completely unjustified’ attack on his victim.

The judge said the appropriate sentence would normally have been four years - but upped this to seven after hearing details of Brett’s violent history.