Kelvin Evans murder: Christopher Cooper jailed for life

A “cowardly” man murdered a pub goer with one punch after he thought he was making fun of his partner’s karaoke singing.

Christopher Cooper, 39, punched 64-year-old Kelvin Evans, from Gorseinon, Swansea, once to the head outside the Station Hotel pub on 26 May 2023.

Judge Geraint Walters told Swansea Crown Court that Cooper appeared to have felt “slighted” after Mr Evans and his partner shared a look while his partner, Catherine Tracy Francis, was singing karaoke.

Cooper, of the Maritime Quarter in Swansea, was found guilty of murder and was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 16 years. Francis, 54, was found guilty of assisting an offender and was sentenced to two years in jail.

Cooper and Francis, from Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, were at the pub – known locally as The Gyp – when the attack happened.

Judge Walters said the murder stemmed from the “perceived feeling that your partner had been slighted by Mr Evans and his partner simply looking at each other and saying something, which you had perceived to be about Tracy Francis’ voice as she used the karaoke machine”.

He said this interaction “festered in your mind from that moment onwards and that was enough to trigger an attempt to cause really serious bodily harm – as an act effectively of revenge”.

“Nobody was going to slight you, or anybody connected with you without paying the price for it,” he added.

Cooper followed Mr Evans as he left the pub and punched him once to the head from behind, with the judge saying he believed Cooper would have hit him again if he had not fallen to the floor.

Mr Evans was immediately knocked unconscious and was taken to hospital but his condition deteriorated and he died a month later.

He said it was “chilling” that Cooper boasted about the attack, calling his fists “these bad boys” and showed no remorse during the trial.

Judge Walters told Cooper it was “a cowardly punch… totally unexpected”.

Cooper admitted manslaughter but denied murder, but was convicted by a jury after a two-week trial.

Following the hearing, the Crown Prosecution Service said Francis knew about the attack but did not call police.

Analysis of her phone showed she searched for hotels after the attack and the couple were arrested the next day at a service station.

Judge Walters said Francis lied throughout her evidence and shown no remorse.

Mr Evans was described by family as a kind man who would help anyone. He loved trips in his camper van Bella, often taking loved ones for days out.

His 92-year-old mother Maureen said she looked at her son’s picture every morning and night, and was in tears as she told the court of her sadness.

Mr Evans’ nephew Mark Jones said: “To lose him to such a cowardly attack has been nothing short of devastating.”

He said Cooper and Francis’s lies were “disrespectful and disturbing”.