Killer thug who attacked passing stranger jailed

Michael Hannan pleaded guilty on the first day of his trial

A "thug" who killed a man by punching him in the face in a "needless" and "unprovoked" attack has been jailed.

Michael Hannan, 32, attacked James O'Hara after a chance encounter on Gisburn Road, Barrowford on 19 October 2021, Lancashire Police said.

The force said he hit the 45-year-old so hard, he fractured his eye socket and nose, before Mr O'Hara suffered a skull fracture as he fell back and struck his head on the footpath.

Hannan, of Tynwald Road, Blackburn, admitted manslaughter and was jailed for five years four months at Preston Crown Court.

A police representative said Hannan did not know Mr O'Hara, who was "merely" walking past him holding a carrier bag containing an LP he had bought from a nearby charity shop.

They said Hannan punched him to the ground and then ran off, "leaving Mr O’Hara unconscious on the floor".

A police investigation found he sent a photograph to friends of himself bare-chested and flexing his muscles less than two hours later and sent other messages, in which he boasted about what he had done.

James O'Hara's family said he would never be forgotten

Mr O'Hara was taken to hospital and treated for his injuries and released.

The police representative said his condition later deteriorated and he died as a result of acute bacterial meningitis, which had developed as a direct consequence of the head injuries he suffered.

Hannan pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the first day of his trial on Monday.

Speaking after sentencing, Mr O Hara's relatives said Hannan's "single act of violence... devastated the lives of our whole family".

They said the sentence "gives us some sort of closure, but we will be forever broken-hearted at the cruel and needless way we lost James".

"One thing we can all hold on to is that Jay will never be forgotten, because he left us all so much to remember.

"We will carry those memories in our hearts forever."

Det Ch Insp Mark Haworth-Oates said the attack had been "needless, unprovoked and vicious".

"James O 'Hara posed no threat whatsoever to Michael Hannan, who punched him with such force that he inflicted the injuries that would sadly lead to his death," he said.

"He then went on to disgracefully revel in what he had done, showed no remorse and only accepted his guilt on the day of his trial."