'WE can only hope he can learn from this; that one punch kills.'

Those were the words of the victim's sister read out in court before the man who threw that fatal punch was jailed.

However, the family of Perry Cardy, the dad-of-three who suffered fatal head injuries in the incident, shock their head is disappointment as Harry Joyce was jailed for six years yesterday afternoon.

The 27-year-old, of no fixed address, had been charged with murdering 52-year-old Perry Cardy after punching him in the smoking area outside the Bittern pub in Thornhill Park Road on Friday April 19. Mr Cardy died in Southampton General Hospital two days later.

Joyce, who had his head bowed at times during the sentencing, denied murdering Mr Cardy, with the Crown Prosecution Service accepted the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Sobbing could be heard from the public gallery as the court was played CCTV footage of the single punch, before which the pair could be seen talking.

Prosecutor Simon Jones said there was “no provocation” for the punch, which knocked Mr Cardy unconscious before he hit the ground.

Mr Cardy fell backwards, banging his head and suffering a skull fracture. Mr Jones said: "CCTV shows this to be an extremely forceful punch in the head."

He added witnesses had described the pair having a "normal conversion" before that.

Mr Jones said Joyce had 19 previous convictions for 39 offences, including assaults, although his violent offences were committed as a youth.

Mitigating, Sarah Jones QC said Joyce, also a father, was "desperately sorry" and "horrified by what he had done".

She said that was highlighted by his reaction when he was charged with murder of: "Not murder... I didn't want to kill him."

Sentencing Joyce to six years behind bars, Judge Jane Miller QC agreed it had been an "extremely forceful punch" and that "Mr Cardy was certainly showing no aggression".

She added: "You punched Mr Cardy with no warning whatsoever.

"You have never had a previous quarrel with Mr Cardy."

Judge Miller said she was "very, very well aware" that no sentence could make up for the death of Mr Cardy.

As previously reported, Mr Cardy’s sister, Mandy Hunter, described the death as "a senseless loss of life".

Speaking to the Echo earlier this week, she said: “This is a mindless incident that has left our family devastated and angry.”