Boxer, 25, is jailed for 10 years for killing man, 20, with single punch in pub before telling police ‘it was just boom, boom’
- Brandon Sillence has today been jailed for 10 years at Caernarfon Crown Court
- He admitted manslaughter after delivering a single fatal blow to Dean Skillin
- Sillence had been drinking at a pub in Bangor, North Wales, when he attacked Skillin and his cousin
A boxer has been jailed for ten years today for killing a young man with a single punch in a pub before boasting: ‘It was just boom, boom.’
Brandon Sillence, 25, used his fists to deliver a fatal blow to ‘perfect son’ Dean Skillin, 20, on a night out.
He had been drinking at The Waverley pub in Bangor, North Wales, when he launched the attack ‘without provocation’.
A jury heard he hit Dean and his cousin Taylor Lock after approaching them in the pub – and left him for dead.
Brandon Sillence, 25, (pictured) has been jailed for ten years today after killing Dean Skillin, 20, with a single punch in a pub in Bangor, North Wales
Sillence told police: ‘I just literally jabbed. I have gone ‘boom, boom’. I just wanted them to f**k off. I was looking forward to going home to my bird, mate.’
The court heard Sillence had approached the pair before punching them both in quick succession.
Sillence was arrested and told police he was protecting a friend.
He told Detective Constable Lee Harshey-Jones: ‘Two lads were ready to go for my mate, so I slapped them both.
‘It was just a warning. I wasn’t aggressive. I have not tried to hurt anybody.
Paramedics rushed Dean (pictured) to hospital where a CT showed a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain. He died the following morning
‘I’ve hit two people. I punched then both to warn them….to back off. One fell down, the other one just stumbled.
But Sillence insisted he had not intended to kill anyone.
He said: ‘I am not a bionic man. I have just moved my hand forward. I did not intend anyone to die. ‘
Prosecutor John Philpotts said Dean was brain dead before he hit the floor.
He said: ‘The punch struck Dean Skillin and fractured the vertebrae, damaging the vertebral artery with the bleeding compromising Dean Skillin’s brain stem and resulting in him being brain dead before he hit the ground.’
Dean’s cousin Mr Lock said he felt a blow to the left side of his jaw before he regained his senses and saw his relative unconscious on the floor.
He said: ‘A man was looking at me very aggressively. He said: “You think you’re big boys”. ‘
Caernarfon Crown Court heard a nearby police officer heard an ‘an awful, hollow thud’ as up to 40 people were leaving the pub.
He had been drinking at The Waverley pub in Bangor, North Wales, (pictured) when he launched the attack ‘without provocation’
Paramedics rushed Dean to hospital where a CT showed a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain. He died the following morning.
A post mortem revealed the blow had caused Dean’s skull to rotate ‘rapidly and violently’ on the top of the spine.
The court heard the violence erupted outside the pub in September last year after Sillence had been acting ‘aggressively.’
Sillence, of Bangor, was cleared of murder but admitted manslaughter.
In a victim impact statement Dean’s father Harry said his son ‘didn’t have a bad bone in his body. He truly was the perfect son in every way.’
He said: ‘He was a lovely lad and an innocent boy.’
His mother Rebecca White said her son had been ‘a strapping 6 ft 2in young man but was now in a box smaller than a shoe box in the living room.’
She feels ‘anger beyond the anger experienced by other people’.
Jailing him for 10 years, Judge Geraint Walters described Sillence as ‘aggressive, confrontational’ and being ‘the big I am’ on the night of the killing.
He said: ‘It was not a warning slap but a forceful punch by a man skilled in punching who knew the kind of damage that you we’re capable of should you chose to inflict it.’
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