'I have to see my dad's killer in Tesco' - son of man killed in one-punch attack
Adrian Cooksey's son is urging people to step away before a fight gets out of hand, as ITV West Country's Robert Murphy reports
The son of a man killed in a one-punch attack is urging people to walk away whenever they feel angry.
Father-of-three Adrian Cooksey was killed by Richard Elmes - a man who was supposed to be his best friend - while on a night out in Wiltshire in 2009.
The pair had been out drinking with old school friends before Adrian was found on a pavement in Melksham. He'd been left alone by the roadside to die.
Adrian's son Adam, an Army Captain, said his life changed forever when he heard of his father's death.
"It was my birthday, actually," he told ITV News West Country. "I'd literally just come back from an exercise in America and landed at Heathrow and turned my phone on. My world had changed forever."
He said how his father had died was initially "a bit of a mystery".
He said: "There was no-one with him when he was found.
"I think people in Wiltshire were a bit stumped as to what had happened. The police were stumped."
Wiltshire Police arrested student Thomas Minshull, who had been in the area at the time. He was put on trial for manslaughter where Adrian's real killer - Elmes - gave evidence against him.
Despite Elmes' lies, Mr Minshull was acquitted.
After the acquittal, Adam says Elmes bought him a pint to try to console him about the trial's result.
"Unbeknownst to us, it was actually him who had killed our dad. We've had 15 years of that moment of deceit, it's played on my mind for years and years and years. This is probably the first time I've ever spoken about that moment."
Wiltshire Police eventually turned their attention to Elmes, bugging his car and overhearing a conversation with his wife where he admitted "telling porkies".
Three years after Adrian's death, Elmes admitted perjury but denied manslaughter.
He was convicted by a jury who heard the pair had argued over an affair Elmes had with a married woman years before.
Elmes was jailed for six years in 2012 and is now a free man.
"We weren't told when he was released," Adam said. "The first time I came across him was in a Tesco Express in 2016.
"I was on my way out for a night out."
As part of One Punch Awareness Week, Adam is urging people to walk away when they feel anger coming over them.
"I always have it in the back of my mind [that I could see Elmes], I have to be prepared to walk away. You've got to walk away."
He added: "Everyone as a youngster has an ego. But you've got to let it go. The devastation it can leave never goes away."