Bingley doorman jailed for Bijou clubber's manslaughter

Ciaran Spencer was jailed for four years at Bradford Crown Court

A doorman accused of causing the death of a man he ejected from a nightclub has been found guilty of manslaughter.

Ciaran Spencer used an inappropriate headlock to eject James Etherington from Bijou in Bingley on 25 November 2017, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Mr Etherington fell onto the pavement outside the club fracturing his skull and died later in hospital.

Spencer, 25, of Green Head Drive, Utley, was sentenced to spend four years in prison.

'Grossly reckless'

The court previously heard Mr Etherington, 24, had drunk two shots in the club but refused to pay staff £4 for them.

Prosecutor David Brooke QC said the defendant used an inappropriate headlock or neck-hold to force Mr Etherington backwards out of the club and he was rendered "unconscious or almost unconscious" before the defendant let go of him outside the entrance.

James Etherington fractured his skull falling onto the pavement outside Bijou nightclub in Bingley

Footage from CCTV captured Mr Etherington falling backwards onto the pavement.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said Spencer had been faced with "a very drunk and unruly young man".

However, he said the defendant "was sober and a big, fit man himself who would have had at the forefront of his mind the limits of his duty and the need to take care as well as eject".

The judge said Spencer had decided to use "a grossly inappropriate choke hold" to get Mr Etherington out of the club and his victim must have been semi-conscious or almost unconscious when the defendant let him fall backwards onto the "unyielding cement".

The court also heard that shortly after Mr Etherington was ejected from the club, Spencer sent a text message to a friend saying he had "choked somebody out".

The judge described his actions as "grossly reckless", adding Mr Etherington's family would never recover from what happened.

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