Lichfield pub owner killed after being punched in the neck in 'senseless attack'

A Lichfield pub owner was killed after being punched in the neck in a bar, in what has been described to a murder trial jury as a “completely unprovoked and senseless attack”.

It is alleged 36-year-old Billy Allison delivered the “very, very hard” blow with the “stance and skill of an experienced fighter” to Matthew O’Gara at the Ricco and Loren bar in the Staffordshire city of Lichfield on the night of 24 May, Stafford Crown Court heard on Wednesday.

Allison has denied the murder of Mr O’Gara and section 18 grievous bodily harm with intent to the 44-year-old’s friend Adam Cooper, but has admitted alternative charges of manslaughter and inflicting grievous bodily harm contrary to section 20.

In front of a jury of seven men and five women, prosecution counsel Timothy Hannam KC opened the Crown’s case, telling of how Allison, who is from Cropthorne Road in Shirley, Solihull in the West Midlands, had been visiting Lichfield with some friends including his girlfriend Charlotte Dean and friends Ryan Bridge and Ben Cullen, and had been drinking throughout the day before the attack on the two men, whom he did not know.

Allison also used cocaine at some point during that day, Mr Hannam said.

He said: “Matthew O’Gara was killed by a full-force, hard punch to the neck delivered by this defendant as part of a completely unprovoked and senseless attack on Matthew O’Gara and his friend Adam Cooper, who was 65 years old.

“Matthew O’Gara was seriously injured and rendered unconscious before he hit the floor.”

Mr O’Gara, a publican who ran a country pub called The Plough on the outskirts of Lichfield, was “completely oblivious” and had his back to Allison on the dancefloor at Ricco and Loren as the defendant punched him in the side of the neck.

The force of the punch made a sound loud enough to be heard over the bar’s DJ sound system, Mr Hannam said, and was hard enough to break several bones in his neck and split an artery.

The bleeding caused a massive haemorrhage to the base of his brain, which resulted in Mr O’Gara going into cardiac arrest.

“It caused an injury that was unsurvivable,” Mr Hannam said.

“He immediately falls to the ground motionless. Indeed, he never moved again.”

After punching Mr O’Gara, who never regained consciousness and died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham two days later, Allison then punched the deceased’s friend Mr Cooper, leaving him with a fractured eye socket and nose.

CCTV from the bar’s dancefloor appeared to show Mr Cooper looking in the direction of Allison and his girlfriend on several occasions before the attack.

Mr Hannam said: “With Matthew O’Gara out of the way and the defendant’s path to Adam Cooper clear, as Mr O’Gara landed on the floor, Mr Cooper, who had been dancing, looks down at him, no doubt distracted and puzzled, whereupon the defendant immediately uses his right fist to punch Mr Cooper hard in the face.

“These were very powerful boxer punches. In total, three devastating punches had been delivered in about six seconds and two men had been demolished by them.”

As CCTV footage of the fatal assault was played in court, Allison, who wore a black suit and tie and a white shirt, looked down at the floor in the dock.

The court heard Allison was taken towards the bar’s entrance by a bouncer but aimed a punch at another man and “lashed out” towards a woman on the way.

Mr Hannam said eyewitnesses described Allison, who had been drinking at several bars and pubs in Lichfield with his group of friends during the day, as “almost frothing, as if wanting a fight and manic, as if he was on something”.

The bouncer released Allison “on the orders” of the bar’s owner, who was a friend of the defendant’s, Mr Hannam said, and he returned to the area where people were attempting to revive Mr O’Gara.

He made no efforts to assist the victims before he left the bar through a back entrance with Mr Cullen.

“The defendant had the wherewithal to swap T-shirts with Ben Cullen as he was running away,” Mr Hannam said to the jury.

“He puts the green T-shirt over his head in such a way as to try and conceal his face from the camera, but ultimately, at 6ft 5ins and bare-chested, how successful that was will be a matter for you.”

Allison and Mr Cullen were next seen on CCTV at around 1am in parkland on the edge of the city centre before later reappearing at the Cathedral Hotel in Beacon Street, where Mr Cullen had been booked to stay the night.

Mr Hannam said: “The defendant had the presence of mind to lie low. That presence of mind continued at the Cathedral Hotel.

“The defendant was booked in at St John’s House, a B&B on St John Street.

“The prosecution say instead of going back to where he had been booked in, he instead intended to evade capture by staying with Ben Cullen on the other side of the city centre.”

After his arrest at around 5am at the Cathedral Hotel, Allison answered no comment to questions asked of him by the police.

Mr Hannam said he believed it would be Allison’s case that he was “sleep-deprived, drunk and had been taking cocaine”, but that he had not intended to cause really serious harm.

Addressing the jury, Mr Hannam said: “The prosecution say this defendant’s kill was murder.

“There is no sensible doubt that he did kill Matthew O’Gara with that punch.

“Also, there is no sensible doubt that he was acting unlawfully when he did so. This was an entirely unprovoked attack on Matthew O’Gara … there is simply no excuse for what he did.

“What was his intention when he punched Matthew O’Gara – that is what this case is about.”

He added: “We point to his physically controlled, steady poise in moments before the attack.

“The defendant’s decision to attack a man from behind, a man who was standing between him and Adam Cooper, a man who was much smaller than him and oblivious to his approach and thus defenceless.

“The skill with which he delivered that punch to the side of the neck, the force and ferocity with which that blow was delivered.

“His intention to land two further, skilful, full-blown punches on Adam Cooper with enough force to break bones.

“The fury directed at those in front of him, his failure to help Matthew O’Gara and his rational decision to leave through the back door with his friend, his rational decision to swap clothing and cover his head as he walked quickly away from the scene.

“His rational decision to go to ground for a couple of hours before making his way to Cullen’s hotel and not his own.

“The Crown say there is no doubt he had been drinking all day and had taken cocaine, but you see what he did before, during and after this assault.

“This, the Crown says, was a man who was thinking rationally and who was entirely in control of his actions.

“A man who took part in organised boxing events in 2017 and 2024, a man who knew how to fight.

“A man who was tall, muscular, obviously very strong, who attacked two men who were much smaller, less fit and older than him.

“The prosecution say you can be sure that when he punched Matthew O’Gara from behind with full force in the neck, he intended to cause him at least really serious harm.

“If you are sure of that at the end of this trial, then he is a murderer.

“Matthew O’Gara died because the defendant decided to punch him as hard as he could in the neck.

“He died because of the serious damage caused by that punch. This, the prosecution say, is not a one-punch manslaughter.”