Shocking moment ‘cowardly’ reveller knocks victim unconscious with a single punch – as judge warns he is lucky to be alive

SHOCKING footage shows the moment a "cowardly" thug floored a man with a single punch in an attack a judge said was lucky not to have killed him.

Kyle Kelsey, 24, walked up behind Paul Beckham while his back was turned before swinging his fist at the back of his head, knocking him out cold.

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Mr Beckham, 33, suffered a fractured skull and a double fracture of his jaw while on a night out with a pal in Scunthorpe, Lincs.

The welder, from Norfolk, was working in the town and staying at a hotel nearby, Grimsby crown court heard

CCTV footage was shown to shows how the victim had his back turned when Kelsey punched him from behind shortly before 3am on October 29.

Kelsey strolls away as the victim falls face first to the tarmac, watched by a female reveller standing close by.

Jeremy Evans, prosecuting, said the CCTV operator followed Kelsey and noticed he casually spoke with other people in the street before leaving the scene.

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The thug returned 20 minutes later to chat to paramedics as Mr Beckham lay unconscious in the road.

Kelsey admitted grievous bodily harm and was sentenced to 12 months in prison suspended for two years.

Recorder John Thackray said it was "extremely fortunate" he had not killed Mr Beckham.

The judge said: "I have seen footage of someone killed with a single blow. If that had been you, you would have been facing a sentence for manslaughter that would have been measured in years."

He called the attack "full-force, cowardly and unprovoked" and added: "It is sickening.

"This sort of appalling violence deters decent people from going out in town on an evening."

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Beckham said he still suffers pain and has lost between £8,000 and £9,000 from being off work.

He said: "I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It has really affected me."

Kelsey was ordered to pay £5,000 in compensation to Mr Beckham and to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

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