Man jailed after victim he punched dies three years later

A man has been jailed after he punched a victim on a night out who died three years later.

Landon Smith, 22, from Bradford, was given a 12-month sentence on Friday for his assault on Craig Kaye.

Mr Kaye died aged 43 in September 2017 after being left with a fractured skull and brain damage in the attack by Smith in September 2014.

He was walking home from a party when he was assaulted on a street in Great Horton, in Bradford.

Smith, who was a juvenile at the time, was sentenced to a two-year youth rehabilitation order with an activity requirement and a three-month curfew order in a trial in June 2015 after admitting unlawful wounding.

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But Craig's death prompted prosecutors to charge Smith with manslaughter to which he pleaded guilty in May and he was sentenced nearly six years after the assault on Friday.

The victim’s sisters Andrea Milne and Dawn Gilroy have called Smith’s 12-month prison sentence, which he will serve half on licence, a “joke”.

They have also seen their mother Jean die of cancer just months after their brother, a fate they say was also ultimately caused by the fatal blow to Craig.

After the sentencing hearing by Judge Andrew Stubbs in Leeds Crown Court they said the result was what their mum would have wanted but that the attack had left Craig's family "living a life sentence".

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Andrea said: "The sentence was a bit of a joke. But it's a sentence mum wanted and today he has been held to account for his actions.

"Mum would be thankful.

"I hope now we get the chance to grieve, we've been waiting in limbo.”

Dawn added: "We're living a life sentence. It's just a sham.

"We have got to live without our Craig and our mum. It killed our mum too."

In sentencing Smith, Judge Stubbs told Smith he had inflicted a catastrophic brain injury after he, his father and another man had gone out looking for the victim because of how they believed he had treated his stepson earlier.

He told the court that there was no truth to Smith's assertion that Mr Kaye had acted aggressively and agreed with the 2015 trial judge that he ran back and punched him hard to the face with no warning.

The court heard how Mr Kaye died in September 2017 after blood clots blocked blood vessels in his lungs while he was having breakfast but he said the head injuries he received in the attack were a significant factor in his death.