A LAKE District hotel worker was killed after he was struck with a "single fatal punch", a court has heard. 

Gordon Smith, 44, is said to have suffered a traumatic brain injury having been hit by another man in Windermere. 

Mark Anthony Russell, 27, faces a manslaughter charge following Mr Smith's death during the early hours of 1 July last year. 

Russell denies the allegation and has gone on trial at Carlisle Crown Court. 

The case was opened on Tuesday by Mr Francis McEntee, prosecuting. 

Mr McEntee said: "In the early hours of 1 July last year, the defendant Mark Anthony Russell killed Gordon James Smith with a single, fatal punch. 

"You will hear that he admits the killing but he claims that he acted in self-defence. 

"The prosecution say that, in fact, the defendant had sought out a confrontation with Gordon Smith; we say that he assaulted Mr Smith in a display of drunken machismo. 

"Further, we say that the defendant's claim of self-defence is entirely inconsistent with the bragging behaviour that he displayed in the immediate aftermath of the killing." 

Russell and Mr Smith were said to have earlier each been drinking in the bar of Windermere's Grey Walls Hotel on 30 June. 

Mr Smith later walked a woman and her teenage companion back to their holiday cottage. 

Russell followed on behind with a male friend. 

Mr Smith's behaviour during the walk was described as "perfectly proper", the court heard. 

However, Mr Smith was later asked to leave the cottage by the woman, apparently after she was told something by Russell. 

Russell and his friend went into the property. 

Soon after there was a knock at the door which the woman assumed was Mr Smith. 

Mr McEntee told the court that Russell was said to have announced: "We'll go and tell him to go away for you." 

Three nearby housemates later reported being disturbed by raised voices and "loud thumps" in the street. 

"The prosecution say that the noise heard by these witnesses is the noise of the assault upon Gordon Smith," said Mr McEntee. 

Mr Smith, who lived at Church Street in Windermere, was pronounced dead at the scene of the incident. 

Russell, previously of Holly Terrace, Windermere, was arrested and interviewed. 

He was said to have "immediately asserted that he had been acting in self-defence". 

Russell claimed Mr Smith tried to push his way into the cottage, and said he merely sought to stop him doing this. 

"So, in self-defence, literally, it was the only thing I could do, was just to use my right hand to punch the jaw," Russell was said to have stated. 

The trial, which is expected run into next week, continues.