Bouncer admits killing man in Bristol street
Mohammed Waqar, aged 22, from Stratford Road in Sparkhill, Birmingham, admitted causing the death of Simon Bampton, who was assaulted in Marsh Street on August 19 last year.
Mr Bampton, 28, from Southampton, suffered a brain haemorrhage after his head snapped back from a single punch.
He had been walking through the city centre with a colleague after a night out drinking when they became involved in an altercation around 2.30am.
Waqar had completed the first year of a civil engineering course at Birmingham City University and was in the process of transferring to a law degree but working as a bouncer in Bristol at the time.
At Bristol Crown Court today, Jonathan Gosling invited Judge Jamie Tabor, QC, to adjourn the case pending a pre-sentence report, as well as the gathering of a number of references and a letter from Waqar to Mr Bampton's family.
The judge adjourned the case for sentence to February 4.
He bailed Waqar on condition that he live at his Birmingham address, abide by a curfew from 7pm to 7am and also surrender his passport.
Mr Bampton had begun working in Bristol the week before his death, travelling home to Southampton each night.
His company decided to pay for him and his colleagues to stay in the city the following week.
It was as he walked back to a city centre hotel that he was attacked.
His death was the second tragedy in a year for the family, following the death of Mr Bampton’s mother, Jill, from a lung condition.
As well as his family, Mr Brampton left behind his girlfriend Natasha Matthews.
The couple who had known each other since school had been together six years and lived together in Southampton in a rented flat.
Speaking at a press conference in the days following Mr Brampton’s untimely death, Ms Matthews said: “I feel absolutely distraught by what has happened. I feel broken. I had the happiest six years of my life with him.
"There wasn’t a day that went by when we didn’t tell each other that we loved each other.”
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