Drunk electrician who punched millionaire banker to death in random attack outside The Ivy then fled on a rickshaw is convicted of manslaughter
- A jury deliberated for some 24 hours and found Steven Allan not guilty of murder
- Allan admitted to manslaughter but denied intending to do any serious harm
A man who drunkenly punched and killed a millionaire banker and fled on a rickshaw is facing years in jail.
Paul Mason, 52, CEO of Qatar National Bank, had been out at the exclusive Ivy Club in London’s West End when he was confronted by Steven Allan.
Allan, an electrician from Hook in Hampshire, punched Mr Mason three times in the mistaken belief that he had stolen a mobile phone belonging to his friend, the Old Bailey was told. Mr Mason was knocked unconscious and suffered serious head injuries from which he died six months later.
Allan, 34, had admitted the manslaughter of the 52-year-old, but denied intending to do him really serious harm.
A jury at the Old Bailey deliberated for 24 hours to find him not guilty of the more serious offence of murder on Thursday after a retrial.
Steven Allan (pictured), an electrician from Hook in Hampshire, punched Mr Mason three times in the mistaken belief that he had stolen a mobile phone belonging to his friend, the Old Bailey was told
Paul Mason (pictured), 52, CEO of Qatar National Bank, had been out at the exclusive Ivy Club in London’s West End when he was confronted by Steven Allan
The Old Baily heard today that Allan shouted at him: ‘Where’s your fight now’, as Mr Mason lay senseless on the ground.
Doctors battled to save Mr Mason and even carried out a procedure to replace part of his skull with a sheet of titanium, but he died six months later on 4 June 2021.
Allan jumped into a cycle rickshaw while members of the public tried to help Mr Mason.
He was later traced from CCTV footage and arrested.
Allan admitted manslaughter but denied murder and was cleared of the more serious charge by an Old Bailey jury following a retrial after 24 hours and four minutes of deliberation.
Allan wept with relief as the verdict was announced.
Judge Michael Topolski told Allan: ‘You know full well that there can in reality be only one sentence passed in relation to an offence of manslaughter where in the use of unlawful violence a life is taken.
‘Make no mistake, a substantial term of imprisonment will be served as a result of what you did that night
‘You have behaved as one would expect of a man of your previous good character commendably and respectfully before the court and have complied to the letter with your bail conditions for a very long time, both as a man subject to the allegation of grievous bodily harm and then to the allegation of murder.
‘You are someone who can be trusted. Bail conditions will remain as they have been in the particular and unusual circumstances of this case.’
The judge bailed Allan ahead of sentence on March 23.
The Old Baily heard today that Steven Allan (pictured) shouted at him: ‘Where’s your fight now’, as Mr Mason lay senseless on the ground.
Defence lawyer William Boyce, KC, requested a pre-sentencing report, saying Allan was a man of good character going to prison for the first time in his life.
Judge Topolski asked the defence to consider a psychiatric report to consider how dangerous Allan is.
He said: ‘I recognise this is a man of previously impeccable character who has for four years or more now been suffering and been on medication, who, on any view in of the 12 seconds that we’ve been meticulously dealing with in this trial, acted in a wholly out of character way.’
Allan had insisted he was just trying to retrieve his friend’s phone and did not mean to hurt Mr Mason.
He told jurors it was a ‘tragic accident’ adding: ‘I was an absolute idiot, I don’t know how I jumped to such wrong conclusion at the time but I did.’
Mr Mason had put a female friend in a black cab after they had spent the night at the Ivy Club when he was confronted by Allan on December 15, 2020.
Allan, who had had been drinking with two friends, marched across the road to him and tried to grab his phone.
Mr Mason tried to continue his journey but Allan followed him and punched him with his right fist, knocking him to the ground.
‘He appears then to lean down towards Mason, who is at the same time trying to shrug him off and move away from the defendant,’ said Jane Bickerstaff, KC, prosecuting.
‘The defendant then punched Mr Mason a second time while he was trying to get back to his feet.
‘He then punches him a third time with an upper cut that causes Mr Mason to fly back and land on his back with his head hitting the pavement.
‘The defendant then appears to take Mr Mason’s phone from him and makes off.
Paul Mason had been out at the exclusive Ivy Club in London’s West End when he was confronted by Steven Allan
‘It appears as if, having appreciated that Mr Mason was lying unconscious on his back on the pavement, the defendant approaches him again and may in fact put back whatever he took.
‘Certainly, there is no evidence of any property missing from Mr Mason.’
Registered nurse Laura Gil Selva saw Allan aggressively shouting at the victim and described him throwing a forceful punch and causing the victim’s face to bleed.
‘She saw that as Mr Mason went to the floor for the final time, his head hit the floor making a loud sound,’ said Ms Bickerstaff.
‘She recalls that as she sought to help the victim, the defendant said to her, something like, ‘Don’t touch him or help him. You don’t know what he did. He’s kidnapped my nephew.’
Another witness, Vaki Dhaval, was on his way home after having a meal with friends saw that Mr Mason with his hand in front of him in a defensive manner telling Allan to ‘stay away.’
‘He continued to watch, and it appeared to him that it was all over as both men seemed to be walking away in different directions, but then, for no apparent reason the defendant punched Mr Mason, knocking him off his feet,’ said Ms Bickerstaff.
‘He saw the assault and heard Mr Allan say, after he had punched the victim to the ground, ‘Where is your fight now? Show me your fight now!’
‘He saw that the defendant continued shouting as if he was trying to see if there was any possibility to continue the attack.’
Eyewitness Gary McGuinness told the court he had been drinking with a friend he had not seen since February 2020 in a Brewdog pub.
Paul Mason was the CEO of Qatar National Bank
Because London was in Tier Three Covid restrictions, they had a meal with their drinks and all the pubs closed at 10.30pm.
Mr McGuinness said that when he left the pub and waited outside for his friend to use the toilet he saw three men talking in the street.
He said: ‘Due to the nature of the huddle they were standing in it could have been a transaction, I wasn’t aware, but I knew it was three lads having a chat.
As he walked up to say goodbye to one of his friends, Allan ‘made himself known by saying ‘Hey, how’s it going lads?’
‘He was wearing a navy jacket. He was now alone, I don’t know where the others had gone.
‘He alluded to the fact that they had gone into the building over his shoulder, and pointed towards a brown door down a dimly lit side street.
‘He told me he and his friend were going to a strip club and his friend had been taken into the strip club be the salesman.
‘He mentioned being streetwise and that he wasn’t going to go into a strange door in a strange building and being robbed.
‘I’m a chatty person and I wasn’t intimidated by him. He said ‘don’t leave me alone, just stay with me while I wait’.
‘I asked him if he would mind calling his friend to see where he was as I wanted to leave.
‘He used his phone as if he was making phone calls.
‘I then looked up and a gentleman is coming towards me and simultaneously answering the phone.
‘I turned to the guy on my left and said ‘is that your friend?’ as it looked like a call had been made and he’d answered the phone.
‘The guy looked up across the road and essentially just ran across the road towards this person who’d just answered the phone and began a scuffle, a dramatic looking scuffle.
‘He didn’t say anything before he left my side.
Steven Allan is pictured at the re-trial at the Old Bailey court
‘What was happening in front of my eyes didn’t make sense so I was trying to comprehend it, were these people friends? Was this a jackass thing or a joke?
‘It looked like some sort of lads banter in some weird way because it was so dramatic I couldn’t equate why it would be happening otherwise.
‘The gentleman who answered the phone then fell to the ground as part of the scuffle.
‘There was a moment when he managed to get back on his feet again, and then there was a kind of decisive hit, navy jacket man [Allan] hit the gentleman and caught him so he fell rigidly onto the pavement and it was an audible noise of his head hitting the ground.
‘He didn’t do anything to break his own fall, he was completely rigid and fell down like a plank of wood.
‘His head hitting the ground appeared to make a squelching noise, a horrible noise really.
‘Because all the bars were closing at a similar time the intersection was laden with people and that noise brought everyone to a standstill. There was a collective intake of breath and everyone stopped.
‘He was lying flat on his back with his arms in front of him still holding his phone.
‘Navy jacket man took the phone out of his hands and said ‘this is my friend’s phone, the guy had my friend’s phone.’
‘When I moved over there he was struggling to breathe, there was a kind of gurgling sound which was very disturbing. Three other gentlemen said we should move him onto his side.’
He said Allan then disappeared from the scene while members of the public tried to help Mr Mason.
Allan, of Hook, Hampshire, admitted manslaughter but denied and was cleared of murder.
He will be sentenced for manslaughter at the Old Bailey on March 23.
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