![\"Brian](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/34a1\/live\/ebb3fff0-cf45-11ef-9fd6-0be88a764111.jpg.webp\")
Brian Farmer\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nA man who punched and killed a man after watching a Euro 2024 England football match has been given a suspended prison term.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Mr Wallendorf, a father-of-two from Hitchin, suffered a brain injury after an artery ruptured, and died in Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Judge David Farrell imposed a two-year jail sentence suspended for two years at the hearing in Huntingdon.<\/p>\n He said Jackson must also carry out 300 hours of unpaid work.<\/p>\n Jackson had denied both murder and manslaughter, telling police he hit out in self-defence and did not intend to “harm or kill”.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Footage showed Mr Wallendorf gesticulating towards Mr Jackson in the club’s car park after the game, before the punch was thrown.<\/p>\n Jackson told police the victim had called him “disgusting” after he went to urinate in bushes.<\/p>\n He said he believed he was about to be assaulted and had made a “pre-emptive strike”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The judge said Jackson had not used “proportionate” force in responding to a perceived threat.<\/p>\n “It is clear to me that you believed that Mr Wallendorf was going to hit you,” the judge said.<\/p>\n “The punch, in my judgment was ‘over the top’, to use a colloquial phrase, and was excessive.” <\/p>\n But he added: “I take the view that prison would serve no useful purpose at all.”<\/p>\n He said Jackson had “never intended” what happened.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Jurors heard Mr Wallendorf had been served with nine pints of lager during the late afternoon and evening of 16 June.<\/p>\n They were told Jackson had been served with two pints of lager and one double vodka and Coke.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Prosecuting barrister Simon Wilshire had told the court the question was whether Jackson hit out in anger or in fear of an “imminent attack”.<\/p>\n He argued that Jackson had thrown a “haymaker of a punch” in anger.<\/p>\n Tana Adkin KC, representing Jackson, told jurors what happened was an accident and “pure self-defence”.<\/p>\n She said Jackson was not the aggressor and had not thrown a “haymaker”.<\/p>\n Mr Wallendorf’s wife, Victoria, told the hearing they had been separated.<\/p>\n But, in a victim impact statement, she said the consequences of his death had been “catastrophic”.<\/p>\n “It was the most difficult day of my life,” she added.<\/p>\n “His loss has left a big void.”<\/p>\n Mr Wallendorf’s mother, Sally, told the judge in a victim impact statement that she had gone through a “tragic, senseless nightmare”.<\/p>\n The judge said he did not think that Jackson was a danger to the public.<\/p>\n He also said he had considered the problem of prison overcrowding when deciding to impose a suspended sentence.<\/p>\n Det Ch Insp Nick Gardner, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, said the “whole incident” was tragic.<\/p>\n “It is a silly argument in the car park and it ultimately led to someone losing their life for a decision,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"Nicola](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/7aad\/live\/8d9a32f0-cf49-11ef-94cb-5f844ceb9e30.jpg.webp\")
Nicola Haseler\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Brian](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/eb31\/live\/d41ab410-cf5e-11ef-87df-d575b9a434a4.jpg.webp\")
Brian Farmer\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n