A TEENAGER who killed a man in a street fight over his young girlfriend was jailed for four years yesterday.

Christopher Howard, 18, became involved in the fight in Middlesbrough after seeing girlfriend Chantelle Bielicki apparently flirting with a group of older men, said Graham Reeds, prosecuting.

Howard stripped to the waist and punched Tony Walker, 33, whose head hit the Linthorpe Road pavement with a sickening crack, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Mr Walker, a steel erector from Stirling Way, Thornaby, died in hospital within hours.

Howard, who wept throughout the hearing, was said to be receiving psychiatric counselling since the tragedy.

Tim Roberts, defending, said the men had agreed to fight one another. When Howared heard news reports of Mr Walker's death he handed himself in to the police.

Howard of Evesham Road, Middlesbrough, was sentenc-ed to four years after he pleaded guilty to the February 8 manslaughter.