A MAN has been locked up for four years for his part in a drink-fuelled attack in which a Liverpool university student was killed.

Civic design student Sion Hardy, 24, died from a massive head injury after being set upon by a group of John Moores University students in a city centre underpass.

He was the innocent victim of a revenge attack which was intended for his childhood friend, whom he had bumped into outside the Nation nightclub.

Two former JMU students, Kevin O’Dea and Simon Taylor, are serving seven years after being found guilty of his manslaughter.

Their friend and fellow JMU student Thomas Canning, 22, formerly of Everton Brow, Everton, was charged in the wake of their conviction and pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis of “joint enterprise” yesterday.

He was jailed for four years at Liverpool Crown Court, although it was acknowledged he may never have laid a finger on Mr Hardy.

The Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Henry Globe, QC, said: “It is a sad fact in society today that the incidences of violence are frequently fuelled by excess alcohol.

“It is a worrying feature for all strands of the public, no more so than for parents of students who go away from home to study.”