SENIOR police officers have reacted with outrage after a building labourer with a history of violence was told he could serve just two-and-a-half years for the killing of a promising university student.

Christopher Woolley, who already has a conviction for assaulting another Durham student five years ago, rained punches down on talented 21-year-old second year student Patrick Brown in March last year.

Woolley, part of a group of local men involved in an on-going fracas with students that night, was sentenced to life imprisonment by Justice Bennet, sitting at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday.

But the 24-year-old was told he would be eligible for parole after serving a minimum of two-and-a-half years.

Mr Brown, originally from Chopwell, near Gateshead, was a former pupil of Royal Grammar School in Newcastle. Trouble flared when Mr Brown and a group of fellow Durham University undergraduates were returning by train from a night out in Newcastle celebrating a birthday.

Following a row about a mobile phone, a scuffle broke out in front of other passengers.

The two groups clashed again at Durham Station where Woolley laid into Mr Brown with a series of punches before a final blow sent him plunging more than 20ft down an embankment. He landed head first on concrete.

Woolley was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter at Newcastle Crown Court last October. The case had been adjourned for sentence.

Passing sentence, Judge Bennet said: "Patrick took no part in the initial fight yet you struck him causing him to fall back.

"Then you stepped through the fence and hit him two or three times and he somersaulted on to the pavement 20ft below. I am concerned that in your nature remains a violent streak."

Woolley, of Bek Road Road, Newton Hall, near Durham, admitting punching the student, but denied his attack caused his death.

Det Supt Harry Stephenson said: "Given this man's violent history which includes a similar vicious attack on a student in Durham City, I find it extremely difficult to come to terms with the sentence. Patrick's family are puzzled, disappointed and angry at the outcome. I understand their feelings and share their dismay."

l A tale of two cities: Page 1