A FOOTBALL player who killed a team-mate with a single punch during a Christmas night out has been jailed for 15 months.

Ian Allan, 34, whose wife is due to give birth to their second child this week, died three days before Christmas six days after hitting his head on the ground during the attack.

Newcastle Crown Court heard yesterday how the university graduate had been celebrating with members of St Theresa's Sunday league football team when an argument broke out.

The court heard that Karl Layton, 24, hit Mr Allan despite having nothing to do with the original argument.

Mild-mannered Mr Allan never regained consciousness and died six days later.

John Evans, prosecuting, told the court how violence flared on Newcastle's Quayside between Mr Allan and another player.

Team-mates stepped in and stopped the fracas, but Mr Layton, of Spencer Street, Heaton, then launched the unprovoked attack.

Layton immediately left the scene but handed himself in to police on December 28, the day Mr Allan, a medical sales rep, lost his fight for life.

Paul Caulfield, for Layton, said: "He is a quiet, respect-able man, a non-violent person, who clearly found himself in a situation because of the amount of alcohol consumed."

Judge David Hodson told Layton: "Anyone who has read Mrs Allan's statement cannot help but be affected by what she has suffered, is suffering, and will continue to suffer for the rest of her life.

"She has been widowed, her three-year-old daughter has been left fatherless and the baby she is expecting will grow up without a father.

"No sentence this court can pass will ever be considered satisfactory for Mrs Allan and her family."

Mrs Allan, of Kelso Drive, North Shields, wept throughout the hearing.