The Northern Echo’s Price of a Punch campaign will seek longer sentences for one-punch killers. Paul Cook speaks to families whose lives have been destroyed by single acts of violence.

“EXTREMELY disappointed”, “devastated”, “unfair”, “not long enough”, “disgusting”. These are only some of the reactions given by families after seeing the killers of their loved ones given sentences measured in months, rather than years. The story of Andrew Gibson, a teenage soldier killed by one punch in a Darlington nightclub a month before he was due to be sent to Afghanistan, is the most recent to leave questions being asked about whether justice has been served. Six years ago, 22-year-old student Lee Walker, from Darlington, was knocked unconscious by one punch during a night out in the town. He was brought round and taken home, but his mother, Diane, found him collapsed on his bedroom floor hours later and he was taken to The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough. He died the following day as a result of a fractured skull and severe brain injuries arising from the fall which followed the punch. This month, his mother will hold a fundraising event for The Headway, a charity set up to give help and support to people affected by brain injury. She hopes to be able to fund a nurse at The James Cook University Hospital. Mrs Walker said: “After this happened to Lee, I just noticed similar incidents more. People must know that this can happen. “I cannot understand where all this violence comes from. It seems people aren’t happy unless they have a fight. If people get tougher sentences, they would act as a deterrent.” After Lee’s death, Mrs Walker and her family received support from the family of Darlington man Paul Simpson. He was killed in 2001 by a man who had been playing a game in which he punched unsuspecting passers-by to see if he could knock them to the ground. In turn, Mrs Walker helped the family of Gavin Robinson, a 30-year-old who was killed by a single punch when he refused to give a man a cigarette in Thornaby in 2008. Initially jailed for 18 months, Richard Wyatt was given three years after the family appealed against the verdict. Gavin’s sister, Alex Robinson- Raper, said: “This is still happening. There is just no deterrent. “There should definitely be tougher sentences. You should be responsible for your actions. “We challenged the sentence in the Court of Appeal and he eventually got threeand- a-half years, but only served 18 months before he came out on licence. “We are the people living with the sentence while they (the perpetrators) get out and get their lives back.”