TWO MEN who admitted to the ‘joint enterprise’ killing of a man in a so-called one punch attack have been jailed for a combined total of 12 years.

Preston Crown Court heard how victim Steven Pye, 50, was fatally attacked the morning after co-defendant Miles Andrew Whitfield mistakenly thought he had stolen his wallet and Blackberry phone.

Judge Mark Brown, the Recorder of Preston, said if Whitfield and co-defendant Mark Smith had simply waited before going around to the house in which Mr Pye was staying in Colne they would have discovered the items had been found by a woman in the street. She handed them in to police hours after the fatal attack which happened in Venables Avenue, Colne, at around 11.20am on July 18.

Prosecuting, Robert O’Sullivan QC said the night before the attack Mr Pye had gone to the house which Whitfield shared with his girlfriend in Allendale Street, Colne, to take crack cocaine with him.

At some point Mr Pye left the house but when Whitfield couldn’t find his phone and wallet he accused the victim of stealing them.

The court heard how Whitfield dictated a text message to the son of his partner to be sent to the Blackberry he thought Mr Pye had, which read: “Spy (Mr Pye’s nickname).Fetch the phone back or the wallet back or your legs are going to be broken. Simple.”

The court heard that the following morning Smith suggested that he, Whitfield and a third man, Anthony Joseph Turner, went to Mr Pye’s house to retrieve the items.

Mr O’Sullivan said Turner drove Smith and Whitfield to Venables Avenue in his red Volvo estate and knocked on the door of the victim’s house.

When Mr Pye came out of the house he was punched by Smith to the right side of the face, between the cheek and ear. The court heard that Mr Pye’s neck suddenly rotated, causing an artery to tear. That resulted in a brain haemorrhage, which led to cardiac arrest. Mr O’Sullivan said it was a result of that blow that Mr Pye died and not the resultant fall to the floor.

CCTV footage showed that once on the ground Smith lifted his foot over Mr Pye’s head but there was no proof that the defendant stamped on him.

But eyewitnesses said they heard Smith threatening to stamp on Mr Pye’s head. Smith and Whitfield dragged Mr Pye into the road and then propped him up against a wall, before they were driven away by Turner. Neither of the men called for an ambulance and when asked if Mr Pye was OK by a passer-by one of them claimed he had just fainted.

When paramedics did arrive Mr Pye was found unconscious and not breathing. He went into cardiac arrest on the way to Royal Blackburn Hospital, although he was revived. He was transferred to Royal Preston Hospital where he had an operation to relieve the pressure on his brain but died on July 19.

Smith, Whitfield and Turner were all arrested but gave no comment in police interview. While being taken back to his cell Whitfield said to an officer: “It was a one-punch wonder. Not by me.”

When all three men were in the back of a police van a few days later Whitfield said Mr Pye shouldn’t have taken his belongings, adding: “Or else he wouldn’t have got a crack like. Simple as that.”

Smith, 40, of no fixed address, Whitfield, 42, and Turner, 64, of New Oxford Street, Colne, all pleaded not guilty to murder.

Smith and Whitfield pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the day their trial was due to start. The prosecution offered no evidence against Turner on both the murder and manslaughter allegations.

Defending Smith, Andrew Jeffries QC said his client was only there because he had been given no work by the sandblasting company he worked for.

Mr Jeffries said: “When he arrived at the scene because it wasn’t his phone or wallet he sat on a wall playing on his phone. He wasn’t initially engaged with what follows. He accepts his part and that he delivered the blow which ultimately results in death.”

Defending Whitfield, Christopher Daw QC said his client had been friends with the victim for 28 years and had not intended for him to die.

Sentencing both men to six years, Judge Brown said: “Human life can’t be restored. Nor can its loss ever be measured by a sentence of the court. Although Mr Pye had issues with alcohol and drugs he could have expected to live for a good many years. You have taken those years away from him.”