Man killed partner with punch during holiday trip

Meadows jailed for five years and eight months after entering guilty plea

Reporting by BBC Isle of Man

A man who killed his partner by punching her in the neck during a family bust up while on holiday on the Isle of Man from Merseyside has been jailed for five years and eight months.

John Meadows, 53, killed 56-year-old Jillian Hughes with a single punch near the Palace Hotel on Douglas Promenade on the evening of 29 March.

Douglas Courthouse heard witnesses described the blow as a "boxer's punch", which was "quick as lightning".

Jailing Meadows for her manslaughter, Deemster Graeme Cook said he should be "thoroughly ashamed" of his "cowardly actions".

The court heard Meadows had arrived on the island along with Ms Hughes and other family members the same morning on the ferry and had appeared "jovial".

The group had visited several bars in the island's capital but the mood had changed when two of the party had been stopped from going back into Sam Webbs pub because there was a child with them.

The court heard the behaviour of the group had been described as "volatile" after an argument broke out as they made their way back to the Rutland Hotel, where they were staying, at about 20:55 GMT.

While the altercation began as pushing and shoving, it led to punches being thrown between Meadows and another man outside the Majestic restaurant on the seafront.

When Ms Hughes stepped in to stop the fight, Meadows turned to her and said "and you as well" before delivering the punch, which the court was told caused a basal subarachnoid haemorrhage that would have led to her death within moments.

Meadows left the scene but was arrested by police further down the promenade shortly after 21:45.

In a prepared statement, he told officers "none of my actions were intended to kill".

He pleaded guilty to manslaughter at a hearing at Douglas Courthouse on Friday.

The court heard he had previous convictions for violent offences and had been cautioned for battery against Ms Hughes in 2017.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Ms Hughes family said she was "the most special, funny, outgoing, sarcastic and beautiful person inside and out and her smile and laugh were so infectious".

She had been "needlessly taken away from us", and the family had been "shattered" by the events, the statement added.

Jailing Meadows, Deemster Cook said in his judgement his actions had "intended to cause harm".

"You should be thoroughly ashamed of your cowardly actions that evening in hitting a defenceless woman who was offering you no threat at all," he said.

It was a "harrowing" case and no sentence imposed "could ever bring Jillian back", he added.

Meadows was also handed an exclusion order banning him from returning to the island for five years following his release.