A GUEST at a wedding party suffered fatal injuries after he was struck about the head like “a boxer hitting a punchball”, a jury was told.

Jason Halling knocked 47-year-old Kevin Smith down on a balcony and used a patio chair as a weapon, it was alleged. He got on top of the Bromyard businessman and punched him repeatedly with both fists, Worcester Crown Court was told yesterday.

Mr Smith – whose partner and daughter were among 100 people at the party – was rushed to hospital but died from bleeding in the brain two days later.

Halling, aged 29, of Firs Orchard, Bromyard, denies murder.

Violence broke out at Upper Sapey Golf Club on New Year’s Day last year, said Tim Raggatt QC, prosecuting.

Both men were at the party to celebrate the wedding of Gemma Halling, the defendant’s sister, and Ryan Smith, the victim’s nephew, who had married in Barbados a few weeks earlier.

They went out onto a first floor balcony about 1am – but “a spat” developed between them, said Mr Raggatt.

He went on: “One witness said the defendant punched Mr Smith as a boxer hitting a punchball. He was labouring about his head with his fists. He used violence to such a degree, and with such ferocity, that by the time it ended Mr Smith was completely helpless, probably unconscious, with damage to his brain that led to death."

Two hours after the incident, a photo of Halling, tak_en by his wife in their bath_room, was sent by mobile phone to a friend of the defendant’s.

Mr Raggatt said it showed his clothing undamaged, both hands bandaged and an expression on his face which was “far from” a man who was frightened or distressed. It was accompanied by a message which read: “Y (short for why) do they start.”

The QC ruled out self defence and alleged Halling intended to do Mr Smith serious harm. He said Mr Smith, who also had a farm, suffered fractures to his jawbone, nose and hand. A front tooth was dislodged.

Halling was arrested at about 9am and claimed to police that Mr Smith abused him verbally on the balcony and grabbed him round the neck. He insisted he only hit the victim twice with hard punches that knocked him down.

But Mr Raggatt said: “That verson cannot be true. The victim was battered into a helpless state.”

He said other guests had to drag Halling off Mr Smith.

The victim’s daughter Faith Earl, a 22-year-old student, gave evidence that she was getting ready to leave the party when she heard about a fight.

She found her father lying on the balcony with his head against railings. “He just wasn’t moving. He was making a gurgling noise. They tried to put him in a chair but he was too limp,” she said.

She accompanied him in an ambulance to hospital in Hereford, but his eyes were closed and he never spoke again.

The trial continues.