One-punch killer jailed after victim's 'kind gesture'

A man has been jailed after killing a father-of-two who had attempted to buy him a drink to try to calm him down following a fight with another person, police said.

Rabindra Bullyram was an "innocent bystander" when Kieran Lettin knocked him out with one punch in an unprovoked attack after being offered the drink following a fight outside the Waterend Barn pub in St Albans in October 2025, Hertfordshire Police said.

Bullyram died in hospital several months later, with one of his sons saying: "As a result of that kind gesture, he ended up losing his life in such a violent way."

Lettin, 45, of Benbow Close in the city, was jailed for four years and 10 months after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

In a victim impact statement, one of the victim's sons said: "I know who my dad was. He would have simply been coming over to help.

"What he was doing is exactly his character; he was a kind man and never violent.

"My dad was a larger-than-life character. He was eccentric and had a way of always making people's day better."

The son added that the way his father had died was something the "family will never come to terms" with.

Lettin pleaded guilty to the killing during a hearing in September at St Albans Crown Court.

Police were called to a report of a fight between a group outside the pub in St Peter's Street, which had been sparked by Lettin making a comment to a woman.

Bullyram, who police said was "completely uninvolved in the previous altercation", had attempted to defuse the situation with his gesture but was instead punched.

Lettin then fled the scene.

Det Con Angharad Millet, of the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, said: "This was an absolutely tragic incident that has left a family devastated because of one fatal punch by Lettin... This is a reminder that one simple punch can end in tragedy."

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