10 Nov 2026
A man from St Albans has been sentenced for manslaughter following the death of a father after an incident at a pub in the city centre last year.
Kieran Lettin, 45, of Benbow Close, St Albans, appeared for sentencing at St Albans Crown Court yesterday.
He was sentenced to four years and 10 months in prison, after pleading guilty to manslaughter during an earlier hearing in October.
The jury heard how police had been called to a report of a fight between a group of people outside Waterend Barn on St Peter’s Street.
Lettin was drinking with a friend in the beer garden, while playing music through a device not linked to the pub, and their behaviour resulted in a staff member asking them to leave the premises.
At around 11.16pm, Lettin made a comment to a woman which resulted in a verbal argument, which spilled into the main road where Lettin and another man had a physical altercation involving punching and pushing.
Rabindra Bullyram, a father of two, who was an innocent bystander and completely uninvolved in the previous altercation, attempted to calm the situation down by offering Lettin a drink.
Unprovoked, Lettin punched Rabindra causing him to fall to the floor leaving him unconscious before he fled the scene.
Following enquiries into the incident, Lettin was arrested on suspicion of GBH.
Despite the best efforts of officers and medical staff, Rabindra sadly died from his injuries in hospital, months after the incident in October 2025.
As a result, Lettin was later charged with manslaughter.
One of Rabindra’s sons said in his victim impact statement: “I know who my dad was, he would have simply been coming over to help. As a result of that kind gesture, he ended up losing his life in such a violent way. What he was doing is exactly his character; he was a kind man and never violent.
‘’My dad was a larger-than-life character. He was eccentric and had a way of always making peoples day better. My dad was such an interesting person with a huge breadth of knowledge, he could have in-depth discussions with so many different people about such a range of topics and this was one of the reasons so many people loved him.
“For him to have his life taken in such a way is extremely tragic and something that me or my family will never come to terms with.”
Det Con Angharad Millet from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit said: “I want to firstly thank our victim’s family for being so brave and cooperative during what has been an extremely distressing time for them.
“This was an absolutely tragic incident that has left a family devastated because of one fatal punch by Lettin and our thoughts remain with them. They are still coming to terms with what happened that night.
“This is a reminder that one simple punch can end in tragedy.”
