A teacher died because his neck was fractured and not because of poor medical treatment, a court heard.

Giving evidence at Lewes Crown Court, accident and emergency consultant Derek Harbourne, blamed teacher Richard Lewis' death on his original injury. Mr Lewis, a teacher at Brighton's Dorothy Stringer School was admitted to Worthing Hospital in May 1997 after being punched and kicked by teenager Sam Brown in a Shoreham pub.

Brown is standing trial for the teacher's murder after Mr Lewis died in hospital eight months later. Mr Lewis suffered a fractured neck in the attack, but his injury worsened because he suffered from a condition known as Ankylosing Spondylitis, where his spinal cord was fused together, making his head bend forward.

Earlier in the trial, the jury heard that the treatment received by Mr Lewis in hospital was negligent and several mistakes were made concerning his diagnosis and care. Mr Harbourne accepted treatment had been "sub-optimal", but refused to describe it as negligent or as the main cause of his death.

He said: "Save for the fracture he would not have suffered the respiratory arrest. In my opinion the fracture was the major factor in Mr Lewis' death. "The delay in diagnosis did not contribute to his death. If his head had gone back when he fell down in the pub he could have died then and there."

After Mr Lewis was admitted to hospital his neck was extended and put in a hard collar. The teacher then suffered a respiratory attack and, starved of oxygen for several minutes, went into a coma from which he never recovered.

The trial continues.

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