Player cleared over punch

A RUGBY player was yesterday cleared of manslaughter at the Old Bailey over the death of a man he felled with a single punch in a pub.

Jason McDonald, 24, an engineer, had been playing for the London Colonials last October and was celebrating a win in Putney, south-west London, when he punched Brian Cullinan, a labourer. Mr Cullinan banged his head and died of a skull fracture. Mr McDonald believed Mr Cullinan, 22, who was drunk, had thrown a glass at him, the court heard. Mr McDonald, an engineer who was living in nearby Wandsworth, denied manslaughter and told police he was acting in self defence.