Christopher Cooper has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 16 years after killing a man at a karaoke night he thought had insulted his girlfriend’s singing
A thug has killed a man at a karaoke night after believing the “timid” victim had insulted his girlfriend’s singing.
Christopher Cooper punched Kelvin Evans once to the head outside The Station Hotel, Gorseinon on May 26 last year after feeling “slighted” over his partner’s karaoke singing. Mr Evans was knocked unconscious and was taken to hospital, where he died a month later. Cooper had later boasted of the attack and branded his fists as “bad boys”.
The 39-year-old, from Maritime Quarter, Swansea, was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 16 years at Swansea Crown Court on Friday. Catherine Tracy Francis, 54, Cooper’s partner, was found guilty of assisting an offender and sentenced to two years in jail.
Cooper shouted at Judge Geraint Walters as he was escorted from the courtroom after sentencing, yelling: “Go f*** yourself – how’s that. You’re a dickhead.” He and Francis had been drinking at The Station Hotel in May last year, with Cooper feeling “slighted” by Mr Evans and his partner, who had shared a look while Francis waas singing karaoke.
Francis was aware of the assault but did not call the police and analysis of her phone showed that she had searched for hotels immediately after the attack and the pair had packed a car to leave the area. Police arrested them the next day at a service station in South Cornelly.
Judge Walters said: “Your victim, Kelvin Evans, was a much-loved member of the Evans family and the wider community. A man without an angry bone in his body. A timid, fun-loving family man admired by all. It was a cowardly punch, delivered from behind, totally unexpected and one, inevitably, that would result in really serious injury if the head were to strike a hard surface.
“The motive for this violence was the perceived feeling that your partner, Tracy Francis, had been slighted by Mr Evans and his partner simply looking at each other, and saying something, which you had perceived to be about Tracy Francis’ voice as she used the karaoke machine.
“It festered in your mind from that moment onwards and that was enough to trigger an attempt to cause really serious bodily harm – as an act effectively of revenge. Nobody was going to slight you, or anybody connected with you without paying the price for it.” The judge said he believed Cooper had waited for Mr Evans to leave before following him out, and would have struck him again had his victim not fallen to the floor.
Cooper had pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denied murder, but he was convicted by a jury after a two-week trial. Francis pleaded not guilty to assisting an offender but was also convicted by the jury. Mr Evan’s 92-year-old mother, Maureen Evans, stood in the dock and faced her son’s killers as she gave an impact statement, holding back tears as she spoke about losing her son.
“You never as a mother expect your children to go before you, I thought at the age of 92, all my children would be there when my time came. Kelvin was so helpful and one of the best sons you could wish for. I look at his picture every night and every morning when I wake up, I miss him so much.” Janet Cross, Mr Evans’ ex-partner, added he was “the love of my life” and shared she had suffered nightmares after the attack.
She said: “The murder of Kelvin has left me with horrendous nightmares, sleepless nights and days and nights filled with inconsolable grief. To add to the hurt, I have had to sit in court and listen to the lies told by the defendants. Both appear to be utterly devoid of empathy or emotion for what happened to Kelvin as a result of their actions. Christopher Cooper can only be described as walking rage – he not only killed Kelvin, but he killed a part of me too.”