Sutton man killed ‘a peacemaker’ who was trying to stop a pub fight

Dilon Price followed his first victim into the beer garden of the Market Inn, in Huthwaite, after fighting with him inside, on Sunday, June 8, last year.

The man, who was celebrating his wedding anniversary and his wife’s birthday, offered his hand but Price grabbed him by the throat to push him against the wall, before headbutting and punching him.

"I’m going to f*** you up,” he warned as other people tried to intervene.

“Harley Fox was trying to act as a peacemaker when he stood in front of Price and told him that was enough,” said Sarah Knight, prosecuting.

Price pushed him with both hands before punching him once in the head.

Mr Fox fell backwards and banged his head on a picnic table and a bench before hitting the concrete floor. One witness described him as “going down like timber.”

“It was immediately clear that Harley was very badly hurt,” said Ms Knight. “He was unresponsive straight away. His eyes were rolling to the back of his head. He went into cardiac arrest.”

Price pulled off his torn T-shirt before he was ushered from the pub by another man just after 9pm. He shouted: “That’s what you get for messing with a Traveller boy.”

He drove off in his van before reversing back, returning to the pub, and collecting his mobile phone.

Ms Knight said Price arrived at the pub at 9pm and fled for the second time minutes later.

Mr Fox was taken to the intensive care unit at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham where he died two days later without regaining consciousness.

An autopsy found death was caused by the blow Price delivered to Mr Fox’s neck which caused his head to twist suddenly.

When he handed himself in to police three days later Price initially claimed Mr Fox grabbed him from behind and said the punch was in self-defence.

Price, 30, of Back Lane, Sutton, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, after initially denying both charges, when he appeared at Nottingham Crown Court last November.

Mr Fox’s mother said her 34-year-old son was “clever, funny, kind, and had the biggest heart.” She said her family was torn apart by Price’s actions.

“He had a beautiful daughter and a bright future,” she said. “He was like the fourth emergency service. We could ask him any question and he would work tirelessly to come up with a solution.

"Harley died how he lived, trying to help someone and by caring. The number of people who attended his funeral was a testament to the man he was. I do not believe Dilon will ever understand the pain and devastation he has caused.”

Mr Fox’s widow told the court they were childhood sweethearts and they were married as he lay on his hospital bed on life support.

“Me and my husband had been out celebrating a friend’s birthday,” she said. “He simply tried to keep the peace and stop people from being hurt.”

She described Price, who trained as a boxer, as a coward and hoped “he lives with his guilt and shame for the rest of his life.”

The court heard Price has two previous convictions for dangerous driving and drug driving.

Mary Prior KC, mitigating, said: “He wasn’t aware that there had been a death because the death was not instant. He voluntarily attended the police station. It was not pre-meditated or planned.”

The father-of-two has no convictions for violence or dishonesty, is of “limited education and intellect,” and has been diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), severe depression and anxiety, she said.

In a letter to the judge he said: “A split decision on my part has caused a lifetime of hurt and pain for Harley’s family.”

On Friday, Judge Robert Egbuna told Price he has caused “untold pain” to Mr Fox’s family and friends.

Price was jailed for five years and eleven months. He will serve two thirds of the sentence in custody before he is released on licence.