A DRUNKEN teenager felled a father-of-two with a single punch before “rejoicing” and laughing with his friends, a jury in a manslaughter case has heard.

Innocent victim Spencer Freeman, 42, died from head injuries hours after being struck outside a Middlesbrough pub by 19-year-old Aaron Hayes.

Earlier in the evening, the teenager was said to have been involved in trouble at a service station as he returned up the A1 from a football match in Sheffield.

Mr Hayes, from Thornaby, near Stockton, denies manslaughter and is facing a trial at Teesside Crown Court which started yesterday and will finish next week.

The jury heard that the teenager was arrested after married Mr Freeman was assaulted outside The Grenadier in Acklam, on April 9 and taken to hospital.

Sarah Mallett, prosecuting, said the victim suffered a fractured skull, haemorrhage and brain damage when he banged his head on the ground.

Miss Mallett said a pathologist concluded that the serious injuries to the front and back of Mr Freeman’s brain were the result of “an accelerated fall”.

She told the jury that Mr Hayes appeared to be looking for trouble when he joined an argument involving Mr Freeman’s sister-in-law inside the pub.

Mr Freeman, who was a pub regular and the captain and treasurer of the darts team, went outside with his relative, and was immediately followed by Mr Hayes.

One witness claims the teenager was shouting “fight, fight” as he left the pub, the jury was told, while others say he was acting “rather aggressively”.

Miss Mallett said he had been “posturing” by showing off his stomach muscles and biceps, and doing press-ups before the late-night trouble started, Mr Hayes, of Topcliffe Road, Thornaby, had been at Bramall Lane to watch his team Middlesbrough play Sheffield United on the day of the fatal incident.

The jury was told that he stopped at a service station at Wetherby on the way home, and was involved in trouble, which led to him being cautioned.

After arriving back on Teesside on the coach, the teenager got a taxi home to get more money before going to The Grenadier with friends.

He is said to have told the cab driver that he had been drinking since 8am and had bought “an eight ball” of cocaine for £120, which kept him going.

Tests after his arrest showed he had recently taken the drug, and he had drunk “significantly more” than the six pints he told police he had had.

Mr Hayes, now aged 20, claimed after his arrest that he was punched first by Mr Freeman, and struck out in self-defence.