A WEIGHTLIFTER who killed a man by rupturing his bowel and stamping on him “like an insect” has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Jobless Jason Richardson, aged 32, of Beanshaw, Eltham, repeatedly punched and kicked Roy Benefield during a brawl outside a pub.

Many Penny Farthing regulars were too frightened to speak to police at the time, with one saying: “I saw something, a red bus went by 10 minutes ago.” Richardson was cleared of murder after claiming he had not been in control of his actions because of a mental condition. An Old Bailey jury found him guilty of manslaughter.

Mr Benefield’s family were said to be angry with the sentence but declined to comment afterwards.

Richardson had intervened when 49-year-old Mr Benefield argued with another man in the pub in Whitehorse Hill, Chislehurst, on August 19 last year.

The 6ft 3in builder kicked Mr Benefield between the legs and punched him to the ground.

One female witness said “He seemed absolutely insane. He stamped on him three or four times. It was like stamping on an insect.” One of the blows to Mr Benefield’s abdomen ruptured a blood vessel in his bowel. He died later in Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup.

Richardson says he suffers depression and panic attacks.