Murder accused 'high fived' each other after alleged fatal attack, court told

Two men accused of the murder of a festival worker outside a hotel in Swansea gave each other a high five after inflicting an alleged fatal attack, a jury has heard.

Andrew Main, 33, from Falkirk in Scotland, died in hospital a month after suffering significant injuries during a fight outside a Travelodge hotel in the city centre in July 2024.

Joseph Dix, 26, from Somerset, and 27-year-old Macauley Ruddock, from Bath, both deny murder and a lesser charge of manslaughter.

They claim Mr Main and his friend Michael Bell were the aggressors during the incident.

The prosecution in the case allege that Dix and Ruddock knocked Mr Main to the floor with a punch from behind and continued to attack him while he lay unconscious on the floor.

Rachel Yates, a receptionist at the Travelodge on the night of the incident, told the court she had served Mr Main and his friend Mr Bell drinks at the hotel bar.

Ms Yates said the pair were “in high spirits” and “having banter, a laugh and a joke” with another hotel guest Hannah Tedstone.

The jury heard Ms Yates told Mr Main she could no longer serve him alcohol after he dropped a pint of alcohol on the floor.

Ms Yates said Mr Main and Mr Bell then went outside the hotel where they began fighting with Mr Dix and Mr Ruddock.

“I saw the four of them punching each other and grabbing each other in headlocks - they were all over each other,” Ms Yates told the court.

The witness described how the fight had moved out of view of hotel staff and Ms Tedstone, who had locked themselves inside the hotel.

She said Mr Main and the two defendants returned to the hotel patting each other on the back, but two punches thrown by Mr Main at Joseph Dix sparked another fight in which Mr Main was punched from behind.

“Andrew turned around and threw two punches at Mr Dix,” Ms Yates said.

“He missed the first time and clipped him a tiny bit the second time. Mr Dix and Mr Ruddock run up the stairs swinging punches at him. Andrew was running away from them and the boys followed him. He was punched to the back of the head and he face-planted the floor and didn’t move.”

When asked by the prosecution what happened next, Ms Yates said the defendants continued to attack Mr Main while he lay motionless on the floor.

“Andrew was bleeding everywhere, all over his face, he wasn’t moving," she said. "They stopped punching him, jumped up and gave each other a high five. They then looked down and saw what state Andrew was in and Mr Dix ran to the doors and asked us to call an ambulance.”

In cross-examination, defence barristers for both defendants showed the court CCTV from inside the reception of the hotel in the moments before fighting broke out. It was put to Ms Yates that the CCTV showed she could not have been in a position to see large parts of the fighting after only spending “a second” at the window of the hotel.

The jury was also played a 999 call made by a resident of a neighbouring apartment block who was woken up by “screams”.

Sandeep Singh says he went to his living room at around 2.10am and saw “two men chasing one guy”.

“He got to the lamppost where he fell or got knocked down and they were punching him near his face or shoulder," Mr Singh told the court.

“I rang 999 and told them what was happening. I’ve seen them punching the other guy and later lifting him up giving him a fist bump.”

Joseph Dix and Macauley Ruddock deny murder and manslaughter. The trial continues.

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