A COUNCIL roadsweeper has told a jury of the moment he saw Adam Rogers fall to the floor after being punched in Blackburn town centre.

Greg Davies told the court: "I could tell straight away he was knocked out.

"Normally you would react by instinctively breaking your fall. It is something that will live with me for quite a while, the way his head hit the floor."

Mr Davies told the court Mr Rogers did not seem aggressive and had not 'touched the lad' in any way.

Mr Rogers, 24, died after striking his head on the pavement on a night out in Blackburn last July.

A 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named due to his age, is on trial accused of manslaughter.

The prosecution have told the jury that Mr Rogers was a peacemaker who had been trying to stop the defendant from getting involved in fighting that night.

Michael Lavery, prosecuting, has told the court that there was no issue over whether the defendant threw the punch.

The issue for the jury to decide was whether it was lawful. The defendant will claim he was acting in self defence, the court heard.

Preston Crown Court was told that initially there had been banter between people in the town centre and fighting, but that Mr Rogers had played no part in it.

Two other young men have each admitted an offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm relating to the overall incident. Antonio Clugh, 19, of Bridge Street, Rishton has pleaded guilty to assaulting someone called Nicolas Ellarby, while 20 -year-old Jonathon Seal of Cliff Street, Rishton has admitted assaulting a Carl Rutherford.

Council road sweeper Mr Davies, who was sat in a truck with a colleague, told the court he initially saw the defendant thrust a flower at a male (not Mr Rogers) with another group of people.

The other male responded by spitting.

After this he saw someone emerge from behind a statue of Gladstone.

That person (again not Mr Rogers) was holding their nose which appeared blooded.

Mr Davies said he then saw the defendant arguing with Mr Rogers. Mr Rogers did not seem aggressive in any way, he said.

"The first lad was in the other's face. I wouldn't go so far as to say squaring up, but they were very close," Mr Davies told the court.

"I could hear that heated words were exchanged. The first one was saying 'get the .... out of my face'.

"The other lad was standing there, both arms by his side. He didn't do anything.

"The first lad hit him. I saw the tall lad's head snap back."

Under cross examination from defence barrister Mr Mark Stuart, the witness said from where he was, it looked as though Mr Rogers had earlier had his arms out , as though trying to calm things down.

It was suggested to Mr Davies that the two men had been side by side and that Mr Rogers had an arm on the other person's right shoulder. The defendant then turned to face him and immediately hit him, suggested Mr Stuart.

"That's not how I saw it," responded the witness.

Earlier, another council employee, David Fielding, told the court it seemed that Mr Rogers had been trying to talk to the defendant, but that the defendant was not having any of it.

"He told him a few times to get away from him".

He said that Mr Rogers had his arms out and he assumed from his body language that it meant he wanted to talk to him. The defendant stopped, added Mr Fielding.

"He punched him to the face at the same time as saying 'get away from me'.

"The man who ended up punched had not done anything. He never touched him at all."

Adam was a former pupil at St Bede’s RC High School, St Mary’s College in Blackburn and the University of Cumbria, where he took a degree in coaching and sports performance.

He coached Padiham Ladies’ football team.