Daniel Galkowski, right, died after a sustained drunken assault Artur Koslowski, left

by Keith Hunt

A thug who battered a friend to death in a "wholly trivial" drunken row has been jailed for eight years.

Artur Kozlowski was acquitted of murder after a trial that lasted just three days. He had admitted a lesser charge of manslaughter.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the 31-year-old inflicted more than 60 injuries on Daniel Galkowski, 24, in a "vicious and sustained attack".

A judge said the two Polish men came to blows in a drunken argument.

"It was probably, as you say, over something entirely petty, but because of the effect of alcohol consumption what would have seemed to others to be ridiculously unimportant obviously assumed greater importance to you," he told Kozlowski.

Had he been convicted of murder, Judge Jeremy Carey added, he would have served a minimum of 12 years - the equivalent of a 24-year sentence.

The jury heard Kozlowski punched and kicked Mr Galkowski, known as Kazik, repeatedly.

Prosecutor Simon Edwards said the fight started in the living room of Kozlowski's flat in South Street, Gravesend, on December 18 last year and continued in the bathroom.

The victim, who was staying with Kozlowski, was punched several times and then kicked as he lay on the floor.

After the frenzied assault, Kozlowski fell asleep. The next morning, he claimed, he saw Mr Galkowski still lying on the bathroom floor and thought he was asleep.

His body was found the next day lying in pools of blood in a semi-foetal position. Kozlowski was arrested two days later.

The victim's injuries included one to his brain, as well as a broken nose, fractured rib and grip marks to his arms and neck.

"This was a sustained and violent attack," said the prosecutor. "It resulted in injuries all over his body and serious internal injuries."

Kozlowski was cleared of murder after claiming he did not intend to cause his friend serious bodily harm.

Passing sentence, Judge Carey said: "You did not, by the jury's verdict, intend to cause him really serious physical harm but you did so and you must take the consequences. You killed him.

"A life has been lost and snuffed out by something which was wholly trivial and needless."