by Keith Hunt

A thug who killed a drunken man with a single punch in retaliation to violence has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Ruben White admitted manslaughter against legal advice having told his lawyer: "I don't want to go not guilty when I know I have done wrong. It is not fair to his family to know I could get away with it."

The 22-year-old father, of Kingswood Road, Gillingham, lashed out at Saulius Klevinskas outside a shop in Balmoral Road in the town on August 21 last year.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the 35-year-old Lithuanian father had been drinking heavily the night before and went to the shop with friends at 8am to get more alcohol.

Trouble started when a can was thrown at Mr Klevinskas and pals from a car in which White was sitting with three others.

Denzil Pugh, prosecuting, said Mr Klevinskas, who was nearly four times the drink-drive alcohol limit, smashed a window of the locked car showering glass on White.

There was a "flurry of violence" before the three Lithuanians started to walk off. White followed and punched Mr Klevinskas on the jaw, knocking him to the ground.

He later described the blow as a "windmill punch" of about force six on a scale of one to 10.

Mr Klevinskas, of Grays, Essex, was taken to hospital and put on a life support machine but did not regain consciousness and died five days later.

Judge Jeremy Carey told White: "This is properly described as a one-punch manslaughter. It is never a particularly felicitous way of describing something which results in the death of another human being.

"You will serve a relatively short sentence - a sentence which, if you have any humanity, you will carry with your for the rest of your life.

"By your act you have taken a life and nothing you can do or this court can do will bring that back.

"You have a quick temper and you are right to take advantage while in custody to seek to address what is a character defect. This, if anything, should bring you to your senses."

Detective Inspector Geoff Payne said: "This was a violent assault which had fatal and devastating consequences. Ruben White may not have intended to kill a man that day, but his aggressive actions and thoughtlessness resulted in the most devastating circumstances imaginable.

"This was a tragic case and highlights how one person's irresponsible actions can prove fatal.

"If other people find themselves in this situation hopefully they will not act so senselessly, as it is clear from this incident that even one punch can prove to be fatal."