A DRUNKEN thug who headbutted a blameless young man prior to his brutal murder has failed in a bid to get his jail term cut by top judges.

Kayle Smith, of Anne Close, Clitheroe, was locked up for 16 months at Preston Crown Court on August 9. The 31-year-old admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm, Lady Justice Sharp told London’s Appeal Court.

Co-defendant Jack Costello was convicted of murdering Jay Jay Livesey-Taylor and caged for life, with a minimum term of 19 years.

They were ‘unprovoked attacks by men in drink’ against a ‘blameless young man’, said the appeal judge.

Natalie Yates, 39, who is the best friend of Jay Jay’s mother, Vicky Taylor, said: “I have spoken to Vicky who was upset about the appeal but is relieved that Kayle Smith will be serving his sentence. It would be an insult to the family if he was back in the community early.”

Mr Livesey-Taylor, 23, of Darwen, was at Esco-Bar, in the town, in January when he had a brief conversation with Smith, who head-butted Mr Livesey-Taylor in the face, bruising his eye socket and nose.

The victim did not ‘show any reaction’ to the attack, but Smith then spoke to Costello, described as ‘a large man’. Costello, 45, of Victoria Street, Rishton, bit Mr Livesey-Taylor’s ear and then thrust a Champagne flute into his neck.

The victim retreated and collapsed on the street outside. He died of his injuries that morning in hospital.

Costello, who was celebrating his son’s 21st birthday, had been given a real glass rather than one made of plastic because he had bought champagne. He thrust the vessel into his victim’s neck, severing his jugular vein.

Costello then threw the stem of the glass at the victim and landed punches before being restrained by security staff.

Lawyers for Smith, who was of previous good character, argued that he should have received a ‘much shorter’ jail term. But Lady Justice Sharp said: “The very experienced judge was entitled to pass the sentence he did for the reasons he carefully explained.”

While the sentence ‘on the face of it was a severe one’, the Crown Court judge had presided over Costello’s trial and was ‘well-placed’ to assess Smith’s culpability.

He was the ‘catalyst for what followed’ and his assault could not be ‘artificially isolated from the terrible and murderous events which followed’, she added.

“This sentence was neither wrong in principle, nor manifestly excessive,” added the appeal judge, who was sitting with two others. “This appeal is accordingly dismissed.”

Sentencing Smith to 16 months in prison in August, Judge Mark Brown had told him: “It was your attack that led to the chain reaction which resulted in Mr Taylor’s death. Your actions cannot be divorced from the events which followed.

“It was you that started the violence at the bar and it was your conduct that led to Mr Taylor losing his life. You can’t be divorced from the murderous events that followed.”

Speaking after Smith was jailed, Det Chief Insp Richard McCutcheon said: “Kayle Smith’s headbutt was the catalyst to the fatal attack on Mr Livesey Taylor by Costello. Smith must live with the consequences of his actions and we welcome the court result.”