Death punch jail term to be reviewed

20 March 2014 Last updated at 15:34

Lewis Gill death punch jail term to be reviewed

Lewis Gill's jail term has been referred to the Court of Appeal

A man jailed for killing his victim with one punch is to have his sentence referred to the Court of Appeal for review for being unduly lenient.

Andrew Young died in hospital after the assault outside a supermarket in Bournemouth, Dorset, last year.

Lewis Gill 20, of Ridge Road, Sutton, south London, was given a four-and-a-half-year jail term at Salisbury Crown Court after admitting manslaughter.

Mr Young's mother Pamela had described the sentence as "a joke".

The 40-year-old, who had Asperger's Syndrome, suffered a head injury during the assault at the Tesco Express store in Charminster Road.

CCTV images showed him challenging a cyclist who was riding his bike on the pavement.

Glanced back

After one minute of discussion between the pair, Gill - an acquaintance of the cyclist - arrived at the scene.

The cyclist rode off and Gill appeared to turn to follow him, but then lunged towards Mr Young and launched a single punch at his head.

The victim immediately fell on to the ground, where he lay motionless.

Gill glanced back at him before walking away.

Mr Young later died in Southampton Hospital.

A spokeswoman for the Attorney General's office said: "Having carefully reviewed this case, the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve QC MP, has decided to refer the sentence of Lewis Gill to the Court of Appeal for review.

"The case will in due course be heard by three Court of Appeal judges who will decide whether they should increase the sentence."

The case is expected to be listed at the Court of Appeal within the next five to seven weeks.