Barrow MP Simon Fell joins One Punch Awareness campagn

Simon Fell is the latest politician to announce he has joined the One Punch UK campaign.

During One Punch Awareness Week, a number of politicians are sharing their encouragement of the campaign that is highlighting the dangers of one-punch assaults.

Using the hashtag #OPA2023 across social media, people are seeking to make others aware that a single punch can the life of the victim and devastate the lives of their family, as well as ruin the life of the perpetrator.

A potential assault can impact a number of lives all for one, split-second decision. The campaign focuses on getting people to recognise: ‘One punch can kill. Stop, think and walk away.’

The campaign hopes to prevent cases similar to the one that occurred in a Barrow Island street attack back in 2010 when Lee Cooksey killed David Crossman with a single punch that severed one of his main arteries.

Cooksey was jailed for five years after pleading guilty to manslaughter. 

Lee Cooksey (Image: Archive)

In 2022 Dale Coulthard, 25, from Barrow, was sent to jail after fracturing a 25-year-old's skull with a single punch outside Fibber McGee’s pub in James Street, Lancaster.

After leaving the man unconscious with a fractured skull, broken left eye socket and a broken nose, Coulthard was sentenced to three years imprisonment.

Mr Fell said: “This campaign really matters – a single punch can end one person’s life and ruin another’s. The message that we’re keen to get across is “stop, think, walk away.”

“Aside from the trauma experienced by the family and friends of the person killed with a single punch, the consequences are life-limiting for the aggressor – if you are found guilty of manslaughter you will end up in prison, impacting your education, employment prospects, and giving you a terrible trauma to live with forever.”