Karl Swift death: Accused '100 per cent did not mean to kill colleague'

But Dean Hartley knew he had punched his victim unconscious with the single blow because his body 'went limp' before hitting the pavement, he told police.

He lied to officers about the attack in Halesowen town centre because he thought his victim 'would wake up and then I'd be able to apologise', Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

Karl Swift, aged 33, died in hospital two days later but Hartley kept up the pretence that he had come across Mr Swift lying in the road.

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The pair were among a group of six colleagues working at Jaguar Land Rover in Wolverhampton, who had been drinking at a Wetherspoons pub in Halesowen on September 8 last year.

They had been commuting from their homes in Yorkshire but that night were staying at the town's Travelodge.

Hartley claimed Mr Swift, who was from Rotherham, had squared up to him in the William Shenstone pub on Queensway as they argued about football but the row was nothing more than 'the usual' disagreements between them.

The group was asked by staff to leave when Hartley's uncle struck Mr Swift with the back of his hand, and the victim went on ahead of the group to the hotel.

But in an interview with Detective Constable Kevin Colley, stationed at Oldbury, Hartley confessed his colleague was still standing when he came across him minutes later.

He said Mr Swift was shouting at him as he advanced towards him.

"I thought he was going to hit me, I just hit him once," he said. He struck Mr Swift with his knuckles in an uppercut movement, breaking his jaw, the court heard.

"I didn't think he was going to die," said Hartley.

"I 100 per cent didn't intend to kill him. I know it sounds daft but I didn't even want to hurt him. I knew straight away he was unconscious. His body flopped."

Hartley, 30, of Burnaby Crescent, Sheffield, denies manslaughter.

The trial continues.