A 'likeable, friendly man' was killed by a 'bladdered' thug with one punch from behind after he was seen talking to his girlfriend on a night out. Drink-fuelled Jonathan Adamson, 25, 'launched' himself at 59-year-old David Aubert in Manchester city centre's Gay Village.
He jumped in the air and hit Mr Aubert with a 'heavy flying punch', knocking him unconscious for a time. Defenceless Mr Aubert, who was walking home when he was attacked from behind, was found dead six days later at his home.
'Paranoid' Adamson, who worked for a building company, had been in a 'jealous' rage after wrongly accusing his girlfriend of dancing too close to other men during their night out, Manchester Crown Court heard. As the investigation into Mr Aubert's death gathered pace, Greater Manchester Police issued stills of CCTV footage in a bid to track down the killer.
Adamson's family recognised him in the images and challenged him. His mother later drove him to the police station. "Mum, I’m scared," Adamson told her.
Now he has been jailed for seven years and four months after pleading guilty to manslaughter, the Manchester Evening News reports. "This was unprovoked, senseless violence," Judge Nicholas Dean KC told Adamson, from Stalybridge, Tameside, who wept throughout the hearing.
"Your actions were utterly shocking. Only you can say why you acted as you did. You will live with what you have done for the rest of your life, but so too will Mr Aubert's family."
Prosecuting, Alaric Bassano told how Adamson had been out in Manchester city centre on Wednesday, June 1 last year with his girlfriend and two of their friends. They had been drinking at several bars and Adamson had 'erroneously' accused his girlfriend of dancing 'too close to other men', the barrister said.
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Mr Aubert, a single man with three brothers, had been at the Grafton Arms pub before moving to Eva bar in the Gay Village. Their paths crossed at about 4.15am on the corner of Bloom Street and Sackville Street. Adamson had been rowing with his girlfriend, and she and her friend went to sit on a step.
A few minutes later Mr Aubert walked past and tried to talk with the two women. Mr Bassano said there was 'nothing hostile in Mr Aubert's conduct or demeanour'.
"He engaged them in conversation for a matter of seconds when the defendant ran at Mr Aubert from behind and delivered a heavy flying punch to the rear right side of Mr Aubert’s head," Mr Bassano added. "Being attacked from behind, Mr Aubert was utterly unable to defend or protect himself."
Doctors would later say they believed that Mr Aubert was concussed or unconscious before he hit the floor.
A witness, a bartender at Eva bar, said: "The sound of his head hitting the pavement was sickening. I first thought 'that’s it, he's dead'. It was horrible."
Mr Bassano said that a few minutes after the attack, Adamson was 'warmly greeting' his friend and 'performing playful shadow-boxing motions', while 'apparently pleased or amused' at what had happened. A witness said: "He appeared proud of what he had done, and it seemed like he hadn’t really understood the severity of his actions at the time."
After regaining consciousness, Mr Aubert was taken to the Manchester Royal Infirmary in an ambulance. But after arriving he refused to be treated by doctors.
"This was despite the paramedics warning him that if he had an internal head injury, this could be fatal if left untreated," Mr Bassano said. He arrived home at 5.30am, went to the shop at 7am, had a coffee with his neighbour and then spoke to his brother at 11am.
Mr Aubert never left his home again, and was found dead six days later on June 8 after being reported missing. He died as a result of the head injuries suffered when he was punched by Adamson.
On June 12 GMP released images from CCTV footage of a man who they wanted to speak to in connection with Mr Aubert's death. Adamson's brother recognised his sibling in the images and questioned him. He said: "I’ve not hit him, I didn’t hit an old man."
He told his mother he'd been 'bladdered' that night and maintained his innocence to her. "He was 59, older than my dad," he told her. "Look at him mum, why would I hit him?"
The following day, she drove her son to Ashton-under-Lyne police station and he told officers he'd punched someone who had been speaking to his girlfriend. A statement read in court from one of Mr Aubert's brothers said: "David’s death has been absolutely devastating for me and my family, and I believe David had many more years to live and his life has been cut short by the assault on him."
Mr Bassano added: "Mr Aubert was a likeable, friendly man, who had done nothing wrong at all and who was a wholly innocent victim." The landlady at the Grafton Arms, Mr Aubert's local pub, described him as a 'nice quiet man' who never caused any problems.
The head doorman of the Eva bar, who knew him for a few years, said Mr Aubert would regularly talk to them and bring them sweets and crisps. A barman at the venue told how Mr Aubert was a 'lovely man, sociable' and 'never aggressive'.
The court heard how Adamson had never been in trouble with the law before the fatal attack. Defending, Ian McMeekin said Adamson can't understand why he behaved as he did, describing it as a 'moment of madness' which will lead to a 'lifetime of regret'.
He said Adamson, of Stocks Lane, Stalybridge, didn't initially realise the 'gravity' of what he'd done due to his intoxication, but once he did his remorse was 'immediate and sincere'. "He is rightly haunted by the fact that he has taken another person's life," Mr McMeekin said.
Adamson's behaviour was 'wholly out of character', he said, and in his work he has gone out of his way to help other people including by carrying out charity work.
The judge said he wasn't sure that Adamson had been 'celebrating' after the fatal attack, but that at that stage he showed 'no particular concern' for Mr Aubert. The court was packed with members of both families as sentence was passed on Monday morning.
"Your actions in early June last year have had devastating consequences, not just of course for David Aubert and his family but for you and your family," the judge told Adamson before sending him down. "The grief of Mr Aubert's family and indeed your own family is evident to me sitting in court."
