The wife of the man killed by his cousin described how their son had asked for his father's life back for Christmas.

Melissa Coleman, told police how Paul Coleman, 35, who died after cousin Peter Attwell, 32, hurled a breezeblock at him, was a "real family man" .

A statement from Ms Coleman was read out at the sentencing of Attwell at the Old Bailey on Thursday (March 8).

Peter Attwell will serve at least three years in prison for the manslaughter following the row at a family party in Coulsdon last summer.

The court heard how a drunk Attwell, 32, ran 80 metres with a 20kg breeze block before hurling it at his Cousins Paul and Simone Coleman.

Miss Coleman, whose 30th birthday party Attwell had been invited to having been estranged from the family "for many years", earlier told the court how her cousin had "lifted" the brick down onto Coleman's head.

Judge Morris QC rejected that argument but believed Attwell had thrown the concrete slab at his relatives despite protestations from his brother Bobby Game.

Game had been in a spat with relatives earlier in the evening and the "unpleasant slanging match" as Judge Morris saw it, continued outside the their uncles address on St Andrew's Road, Coulsdon.

Judge Morris, in sentencing Attwell said: "The groups had separated and the neighbours had gone to bed thinking it was over. But you were not prepared to let it rest. Bobby begged you not to go back."

Attwell, a former labourer, had acted in "revenge" according to Judge Morris and was "perfectly aware" of the drunken state of his cousin when he threw the breeze block at him "like a football throw in".

The judge said that although the "terrible weapon" didn't strike Coleman, from Wallington: "In taking evasive action [to avoid the 20kg concrete block], Paul Coleman lost his balance".

Coleman fell backwards, fracturing his skull. Father-of-four Attwell handed himself in to police the following morning.

Emotions were running high outside the court after Judge Morris QC had passed sentence.

Members of one family gave chase to the other up the Old Bailey towards Newgate Street.

Traffic stopped as the two groups screamed insults at each other and had to be restrained.

One man had to be lead away by police.

Judge Morris QC told Attwell before sentencing him to six years in prison: "By your actions you have deprived Paul Coleman’s family of a son, husband, father and brother."

An impact statement from Ms Coleman, who was pregnant with the couple's sixth child when her husband died, read: "Paul was a real family man who worked hard to make sure we got what we needed. He was a real family man.

"We still have not come completely to terms with his death. Paul was everything to my family and now we are left facing the future without him."