A SINGLE punch hit a 25-year-old amateur sportsman so hard that he dropped "pole-axed" to the ground and hit his head with a sickening crunch, a court was told.

Neil Anthony Morton, 27, of Broadhead Avenue, Edgworth, Darwen, denies inflicting unlawful and malicious grievous bodily harm on cricketer and football player Mark Hall in a car park in Lowergate, Clitheroe, on June 26, last year.

Mr Hall was knocked unconscious, suffered serious head injuries and underwent brain surgery, returning home on September 2. He died five days later after an epileptic fit.

On the first day of the trial at Preston Crown Court, the jury heard extracts from police interviews with Morton, who claims he lashed out at Mr Hall in self-defence after a series of altercations between the two men and Mr Hall's girlfriend Angelina Metcalf.

Prosecutor Richard Haworth said Mr Hall, of Main Street in Downham, Clitheroe, hit his head so hard on the ground that witnesses described the sound as "being a horrible crack, a crunch - a sickening noise".

He said the idea Morton had acted in self-defence was "nonsense" and that there was no reason or justification for the attack.

Mr Haworth went on: "Neil Morton lashed out with a clenched fist and aggression measured in that he pole-axed Mark Hall. "One man said his head hitting the floor sounded like a full pint glass of beer falling and smashing on the ground. His wife then turned to him and said: "That lad's dead", while other witnesses heard the noise even though they were some distance away and getting into a car."

Miss Metcalf, of Woone Lane, Clitheroe, said there had been an altercation between Mr Hall and Morton in a takeaway some weeks before June 26.

She said Morton had told her boyfriend he was pathetic and that Mr Hall went after him and had to be restrained by a friend.

On June 26, a Friday night when England were playing Colombia in the World Cup, she said there had also been earlier incident in the Keystreet pub in Lowergate, Clitheroe, and that she slapped Morton before leaving the pub.

The couple then walked to the nearby Dog and Partridge pub in Wellgate but found it was closed and bumped into Morton and two friends as they walked home.

Miss Metcalf went on: "Neil started shouting and gesturing to Mark. He was going: "Come on, come on, let's finish what we started the other week". Mark said: "What's your problem?" and Neil accused him of still being in love with an ex-girlfriend he was seeing at the time.

"I went up to him again. I wanted to hit him but he got hold of my wrists. Then Mark was behind me and Neil let go, ran at him and punched him in the face. He just fell straight back. I heard a thud."

(Proceeding)

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.