Banker ‘killed with a single punch after asking young mum about her stiletto shoes on a night out’
A BANKER was killed with a single punch in an "unprovoked and senseless" attack after asking a new mum about her stiletto heels, a court heard today.
Trevor Timon hit Oliver Dearlove, 30, because he was angry about him talking to a group of young women he knew on a night out, jurors were told.
Mr Dearlove, who worked for a boutique private bank, had struck up the conversation by asking one of the women if her feet hurt after noticing she had removed her stilettos.
He then told her she had a beautiful baby in a "polite and friendly" exchange after she showed him snaps of her four-week-old child.
But the mood turned sour when Timon, who had been in the same nightclub as the four women, demanded: "What you doing talking to these girls?", the Old Bailey heard.
He then allegedly barked at Mr Dearlove: "If you don't move, I'll knock you out," before landing a blow to the left side of Mr Dearlove's head and neck just after 12.30am on August 28 last year.
Mr Dearlove collapsed straight backwards on the street in posh Blackheath, South East London, and was pronounced dead less than 24 hours later.
Timon, 31, admits manslaughter over the killer punch, but denies murder.
Prosecutor Anthony Orchard QC told jurors the issue is whether he meant to cause Mr Dearlove "really serious bodily harm".
He said: "The attack upon Oliver Dearlove took place on a warm August Bank Holiday evening in the quiet leafy streets of Blackheath.
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"He was stood on the pavement not far from a nightclub.
"The attack was unprovoked and senseless.
"It appears to have been motivated by the defendant's perceived sense of grievance that Oliver Dearlove and two of his male friends were talking to a group of young women, who Trevor Timon, the defendant, knew."
Jurors heard Mr Dearlove worked as a relationship manager for Duncan Lawrie Private Bank in London's Victoria. He had previously worked for the Queen's bank Coutts.
Oliver lived in New Eltham with his long-term girlfriend Claire Wheatley, who was at the Old Bailey as the trial got underway.
The victim had spent the evening of Saturday August 27 drinking with pals in pubs in the Blackheath area, ending the night in a bar called Zerodegrees.
Timon had been to O'Neills pub in Blackheath before moving on to Morden's nightclub where he saw a woman he knew well, who was herself on a night out with her sisters and a friend.
Their group, who cannot be named for legal reasons, left the club, followed by Timon, at almost the same time Mr Dearlove and two friends were walking by.
The court heard the three men tried to strike up conversation with one of the women who had removed her high heels.
Mr Orchard explained: "One of the men, almost certainly Oliver Dearlove, asked her if her feet hurt and she replied laughingly, 'You know what my feet are killing me', adding that she'd just had a baby and it was her first night out in four weeks.
"She recalls Oliver Dearlove said to them all, 'She had a baby four weeks ago, doesn't she look well?'.
"She got out some pictures of her baby. She recalls Oliver Dearlove was very polite and told her how beautiful her baby was."
One of the women said Timon was "agitated and not friendly" and asked the men: "What are you saying?"
Witnesses said Timon then shouted: "Who the f*** are you boys?"; and: "What you doing talking to these girls?"
One of the women said Timon then told Mr Dearlove: "If you don't move on, I'll knock you out."
The court heard she put herself in between Mr Dearlove's group and Timon and told him: "Just go, just move."
The prosecutor said: "The next thing that happened was the defendant hit Oliver Dearlove.
"The punch skimmed her face. She saw Oliver Dearlove fall and his whole body twisted.
"She screamed, 'He hit him, he hit him."
When one of the women asked Timon why he had punched his victim, he replied: "I'm p***ed off", the jury heard.
He later repeatedly tried to call her and went to her home.
The prosecutor said that in one of their conversations, Timon,of Plumstead, South East London, claimed: "One of them leant down to their sock, there's three of them" and insisted he had only "hit him once".
The trial continues.
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