A man who punched and killed a man after watching a Euro 2024 England football match has been given a suspended prison term.

Oscar Jackson, 21, hit security engineer Grant Wallendorf, 45, in the face after they had both watched England v Serbia on television at Ickleford Sports and Recreation Club, near Hitchin, Hertfordshire, on 16 June.

Mr Wallendorf, a father-of-two from Hitchin, suffered a brain injury after an artery ruptured, and died in Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge.

Jackson, of Wilshere Crescent, Hitchin, was sentenced on Friday, having been found guilty of manslaughter but cleared of murder in November following a Crown Court trial in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.

Judge David Farrell imposed a two-year jail sentence suspended for two years at the hearing in Huntingdon.

He said Jackson must also carry out 300 hours of unpaid work.

Jackson had denied both murder and manslaughter, telling police he hit out in self-defence and did not intend to “harm or kill”.

Jurors heard how the incident involving the two men, who had both been drinking, was caught on the CCTV system that Mr Wallendorf had installed at the club.

Footage showed Mr Wallendorf gesticulating towards Mr Jackson in the club’s car park after the game, before the punch was thrown.

Jackson told police the victim had called him “disgusting” after he went to urinate in bushes.

He said he believed he was about to be assaulted and had made a “pre-emptive strike”.

The judge said Jackson had not used “proportionate” force in responding to a perceived threat.

“It is clear to me that you believed that Mr Wallendorf was going to hit you,” the judge said.

“The punch, in my judgment was ‘over the top’, to use a colloquial phrase, and was excessive.”

But he added: “I take the view that prison would serve no useful purpose at all.”

He said Jackson had “never intended” what happened.

Jurors heard Mr Wallendorf had been served with nine pints of lager during the late afternoon and evening of 16 June.

They were told Jackson had been served with two pints of lager and one double vodka and Coke.

Prosecuting barrister Simon Wilshire had told the court the question was whether Jackson hit out in anger or in fear of an “imminent attack”.

He argued that Jackson had thrown a “haymaker of a punch” in anger.

Tana Adkin KC, representing Jackson, told jurors what happened was an accident and “pure self-defence”.

She said Jackson was not the aggressor and had not thrown a “haymaker”.

Mr Wallendorf’s wife, Victoria, told the hearing they had been separated.

But, in a victim impact statement, she said the consequences of his death had been “catastrophic”.

“It was the most difficult day of my life,” she added.

“His loss has left a big void.”

Mr Wallendorf’s mother, Sally, told the judge in a victim impact statement that she had gone through a “tragic, senseless nightmare”.

The judge said he did not think that Jackson was a danger to the public.

He also said he had considered the problem of prison overcrowding when deciding to impose a suspended sentence.

Det Ch Insp Nick Gardner, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, said the “whole incident” was tragic.

“It is a silly argument in the car park and it ultimately led to someone losing their life for a decision,” he said.