Man guilty of murdering Bristol student
Joe, 17, of Whitchurch, was punched unconscious before having his head kicked "like a football" when he intervened in row, Bristol Crown Court heard.
He was out with friends in the city centre and stepped in when his friend had a heated exchange with a girl in Queen Charlotte Street.
As he did so Jack Sanderson-Hunt punched Joe to the ground – where he fractured his skull and lay unconscious as Thomas Swift kicked him to the right temple, causing another fracture.
Joe lapsed into a coma and died as a result of head injuries two weeks later.
Sanderson-Hunt, 18, of Dundry View, Bristol, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Swift, 18, of Ellfield Close, Highridge, previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter and denied murder.
He accepted he kicked Joe but claimed he did not intend to kick his head, instead to kick his body but stumbled because he was drunk – a claim not accepted by the crown.
But a jury at Bristol Crown Court today found Swift unanimously guilty of murder.
Today Mr Justice Foskett told the duo they would be sentenced at a date to be fixed.
A gifted mathematician, Joe, had just finished his first year of A-levels in psychology, business studies, sports studies and maths at St Brendan’s sixth form college.
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