by Julia Roberts

A teenager who killed a 25-year-old man with a single "gratuitous" punch outside a Margate nightclub has been locked up for three years.

Family and friends of the victim, Richard Collier (pictured left), reacted furiously to the sentence at the end of the emotionally-charged hearing at Maidstone Crown Court today.

Shouts of "animal" were directed at 19-year-old Charlie McBride, who had pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier this week. Another was heard to tell him to "rot in hell".

McBride, of Brighton Road, Sutton in Surrey, attacked Mr Collier from behind as he stood chatting to a friend outside Kabuki in Marine Gardens in the early hours of June 25.

His one punch struck Mr Collier to the left hand side of his face and knocked him to the ground, causing him to hit the back of his head and suffer multiple skull fractures.

He never regained consciousness and died later that day at the QEQM Hospital in Margate.

The court was told that there was no apparent motive for the attack on Mr Collier, who lived in Wellington Crescent, Ramsgate.

He was a former Harvey Grammar School pupil and an accomplished poker player.

"nothing can bring back their loved one and your actions will have the effect, no doubt, of haunting you for the rest of your life" – judge philip statman

Sentencing McBride to three years in a young offenders' institution, Judge Philip Statman said he accepted that "death was unintentional and unintended" but his actions had caused "catastrophic consequences".

"The blow was delivered utterly gratuitously. There is no suggestion whatsoever of there being any form of provocation or any reason why it should be that you acted in the manner that you did," the judge added.

"The violence was clearly unlawful but there was never any intention in your mind at that stage to either cause death or inflict very serious bodily harm."

The court heard that after punching Mr Collier, McBride fled the scene. He later handed himself in to police, but it was claimed in court by Mr Collier's brother, Robert, that McBride had boasted on Facebook of the attack.

Before passing sentence, Judge Statman had told the packed courtroom that nothing he said or did could provide Mr Collier's family with "any crumb of comfort".

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Addressing McBride in particular, he added: "Nothing can bring back their loved one and your actions will have the effect, no doubt, of haunting you for the rest of your life."

The court viewed CCTV footage of the incident. Judge Statman said all the people outside Kabuki were behaving "impeccably" and that the punch from McBride came "out of the blue".

McBride had spent about £30 on alcohol that evening and said he had had six or seven drinks.

He approached from behind as Mr Collier was chatting to a mutual friend, trading what were described as "jocular insults".

Annette Henry, defending, said that despite initially telling police he had sensed a hostile atmosphere, McBride admitted that Mr Collier had done nothing to cause the attack.

"It seems that the catastrophic consequences of what happened that night were as a result of a wholly misconceived perception and he could not have been more wrong in terms of what was happening out on the pavement."

On deciding length of sentence, the judge said he had to take into account McBride's age, guilty plea and no previous convictions, cautions or warnings.

Mr Collier is the son of John and Isobel Collier, of Blenheim Place, Folkestone. They were in America at the time their son was killed and Mr Collier, who is a district and town councillor for Morehall, collapsed on hearing what had happened.

The family are now considering setting up a permanent memorial to their son.