investigation Calls for fresh into man's one-punch death

The sister of a man who died after being assaulted on a night out is calling for his case to be reinvestigated after three years without any suspects being charged.

- BARNEY DAVIS

Riccardo Holness, 42, was outside a nightclub in Beckenham, Kent, on 17 October 2021 when he was attacked at 1.20am. His friends, who owned the venue, carried out CPR on him before paramedics arrived and he was rushed to hospital in a critical condition.

Mr Holness was put on life support but died a month later, with a post-mortem examination giving the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head.

A 26-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of GBH and bailed pending further enquiries, police said. But the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) discontinued the case after deciding there was not a realistic chance of conviction – to the anguish of Mr Holness’s grieving family.

Despite an appeal under the Victims’ Right to Review scheme, the decision not to charge the suspect was also upheld by an independent specialist prosecutor, a CPS spokesperson said.

Mr Holness’s sister, Ramona Marsh, has set up a crowdfunding website in the hope that his death may be re-examined and declared “unlawful” at his upcoming inquest in November.

While the details of what led to the altercation are not clear, Ms Marsh told The Independent her brother had gone to the club that night with a friend. “He was outside and he was punched once to the head,” she said.