Jurors told to ask if scaffolder hit out in anger

Jurors must decide whether a scaffolder accused of murder as a result of punching a man after an England Euro 2024 football game acted in "anger or fear", a prosecutor said.

Oscar Jackson, 21, from Hitchin, Hertfordshire, hit Grant Wallendorf, 45, in the face after both had watched England beat Serbia on television at a sports club in Ickleford on 16 June.

Mr Wallendorf, who also lived in Hitchin, suffered a brain injury after an artery ruptured and died in hospital.

Mr Jackson, who has denied charges of murder and manslaughter at a Crown Court trial in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, said he hit out in "self-defence" and did not intend to "harm or kill".

Jurors retired to consider their verdict on Tuesday.

The jury has heard how the incident involving the two men, who had both been drinking, was caught on CCTV that Mr Wallendorf had installed at the club.

Footage played during the trial showed Mr Wallendorf gesticulating towards Mr Jackson in the club's car park after the game, before being punched.

Mr Jackson told police Mr Wallendorf had called him "disgusting" after he went to urinate in bushes.

He said he believed he was about to be assaulted and had made a "pre-emptive strike".

Prosecuting barrister Simon Wilshire told jurors that the question was whether Mr Jackson hit out in anger or fear of an "imminent attack".

He argued that Mr Jackson had thrown a "haymaker of a punch" in anger.

Mr Wilshire did not argue that Mr Jackson had intended to kill - but said the prosecution case was that he had intended to cause "really serious harm", and was therefore guilty of murder.

"It was anger that drove Oscar Jackson to strike Mr Wallendorf," Mr Wilshire told jurors.

"The CCTV gives the lie to Mr Jackson's claim that he acted in a pre-emptive manner.

"There was no attack by Mr Wallendorf."

He added: "You look at that CCTV, and you see a man acting in anger... not in self defence."

Barrister Tana Adkin KC, who represents Mr Jackson, told jurors that what had happened was an "accident" and "pure self defence".

"This case and what happened on the 16 June is absolutely tragic," she said.

"A series of unfortunate decisions coming together."

But she said it was "not murder" and "not manslaughter" and told jurors Mr Jackson had not been the "aggressor".

"It was truly an accident," she added. "The result of a rare set of circumstances."

She said what happened was a "proper" reflection of the "human reaction of fight or flight" - throwing a punch "instinctively to defend yourself".

Mr Jackson opted not to give evidence in his defence at the trial.

In a prepared statement after arrest, he told police that he had not intended to harm or kill.

He said he threw the punch in self-defence because he believed he was about to be assaulted.

Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.