Man cleared of manslaughter after young father died in 'macho' punching game

 
Desmond Bartley (left) was cleared of the manslaughter of Tommy Main (right) (Pictures: Facebook)
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Laura Proto29 July 2015

A man has been cleared of manslaughter after a young father-of-two died in a punching game that went wrong.

Desmond Bartley, 21, was accused of the unlawful killing of 23-year-old Tommy Main in June last when the pair were involved in a 'punch for punch' game at a 16th birthday party at a house in Erith, south east London.

At a trial at Inner London Crown Court, Mr Bartley said he and Mr Main, who he had known for 10 years, were "playing" and that he had no intention of seriously hurting his friend.

After eight hours and 35 minutes of deliberations, the jury found Mr Bartley not guilty of manslaughter.

The court heard that the pair, who had both taken cocaine, played a "macho" game of "blow for blow", in which they took turns hitting each other.

After taking two hits, Mr Bartley took his turn and struck Mr Main in the chest.

He told the court: "Basically he [Mr Main] said 'Ah, I felt that', looked at me, laughed and then collapsed."

Mr Bartley said he thought his friend had "lost his breath of something" before he started turning blue and people began trying to resuscitate him.

The formal cause of Mr Main's death was given as cardiac arrest following blunt chest impact and the presence of cocaine and alcohol.

Mr Bartley told police he had "hardly touched him", and said in court: "The punch that I threw, I never thought it would do something like that, him collapsing."

Additional reporting by the Press Association

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