A student was drawn into a violent revenge attack and beaten to death simply because he had a chance meeting with an old friend outside a nightclub, Liverpool Crown Court was told yesterday.

Sion Hardy, 24, a town planning student at Liverpool University, had been enjoying a night out at a club in the city centre. As he was leaving in the early hours he bumped into Stephen Lunne, a childhood friend, and another man who had earlier been involved in a violent confrontation with other students. It was the latest skirmish in a long-running feud.

Tania Griffiths, QC, for the prosecution, told the jury that as the men were making their way home through an underpass close to the nightclub they were set upon by four students intent on revenge for an earlier incident in the club.

Mr Hardy fought valiantly to defend himself but was dealt such a severe blow, possibly a kick, to the base of the skull that he collapsed and died of a brain haemorrhage.

Simon Taylor, 22, from Wigan, and Kevin O’Dea, also 22, of Salford, both Greater Manchester, deny murder. Ms Griffiths told the jury that Mr Hardy came from Bangor, North Wales, to Liverpool. “He chose our city in the expectation that he would fulfil his high hopes and dreams for the future. Sadly that was not to be.”

She described how a feud had been brewing for some weeks since an incident when Mr O’Dea, who was studying building construction, accused Mr Lunne of hitting his girlfriend. There had been accusatory messages left on Facebook and text messages.

The incident occurred during the “Medication for the Nation” club night on November 15, when some of the students, including Mr O’Dea, were dressed as schoolboys with shorts and caps and others as French maids.

The bad feeling turned into a violent stand-off after Mr O’Dea accused Mr Lunne of throwing beer over his girlfriend.

Ms Griffiths said that Mr Hardy had simply run into Mr Lunne outside the club and was asking about his friend’s troubled night out as they moved into the underpass. The jury was shown CCTV footage of both groups entering the tunnel. About a minute later Mr Taylor, who was studying sports science at Liverpool John Moores University, Mr O’Dea and two others are said to have emerged in an apparently celebratory mood.

Inside the tunnel, paramedics could not save Mr Hardy and he was pronounced dead in hospital later that morning.

Ms Griffiths told the jury that it did not matter who struck the fatal blow because it was a joint enterprise by each of the attackers.

She said that Mr O’Dea had admitted to police that he struck Mr Hardy several times about the head, albeit in self-defence.

Ms Griffiths said: “Sion Hardy was not the aggressor here. The Crown is clear that at all times he was the innocent party.”

The victim’s family, packing the public gallery, listened intently to the evidence. The trial continues.

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