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Widow sues Stringfellow’s after death
Businessman died after punch
A GRIEVING widow has issued a writ for damages against the Peter Stringfellow organisation following the violent death of her husband at the hands of a bouncer.
He was felled by a single punch outside the famous West End lapdance club where he had been enjoying a pal’s stag night.
An Old Bailey jury convicted former heavyweight boxer Marcus Marriott of manslaughter after a previous trial in which he was cleared of murder.
Marriott, 34, from Chingford, who was jailed for three years in January last year, was captured on CCTV delivering a fierce punch which sent businessman George MacDonald, 34, crashing to the ground in Covent Garden.
As he was poleaxed, father of two MacDonald, very drunk, shattered his skull.
His widow Tanya sat through the harrowing case.
She has begun proceedings in the High Court against Stringfellow Restaurants Ltd for a minimum £300,000 in compensation.
Her solicitor Stuart Dench said: “The family were financially dependent on Mr Macdonald and that will form the basis of the claim. He was attacked as Marriott was performing his duties as a doorman at Stringfellows.”
Marriott, who denied the charge and claimed self-defence, said he hit out at six foot two, 21-stone Mr Macdonald, a marketing director for an internet firm, when he feared he would be attacked.
“He was having a go at me, just drunken ranting,” he said.
Judge Christopher Moss, QC, said: “The image shown in the CCTV footage is shocking and sickening. As a result of your actions a life has been lost.”
Jurors heard how Mr MacDonald was ejected from the basement club after an allegation that he groped a dancer.
The blonde dancer made no complaint about his conduct. She had been “entertaining” him and sharing bottles of Champagne.
Prosecutor Dorian Loveel-Pank, QC, told the court that Mr Macdonald objected to being accused of breaking house rules by “inappropriate touching”.
A doorman for ten years, Marriott, 15 stone, rejected suggestion that he lost his temper when he could have “backed off”. |
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