Judge references James Graham's Punch in Nottingham sentencing

A judge has referenced James Graham’s new play Punch while sentencing a man who knocked another man unconscious in Chesterfield, saying "people need to watch" the production. 

Graham’s latest play, which opened at Nottingham Playhouse on May 4, dramatises the memoir of Jacob Dunne, who killed 28-year old trainee paramedic James Hodgkinson with a single punch outside a Nottingham pub and served 14 months for manslaughter. 

Judge Shaun Smith KC referenced Punch while handing defendant Nicky Raynor-Smith a suspended jail sentence after Derby Crown Court heard that Raynor-Smith delivered a powerful punch in July 2022 that left the victim "knocked out cold" on a pavement in Clay Cross, the Derbyshire Times reported.

Despite surviving the assault, Raynor-Smith’s victim suffered a fractured skull and a brain bleed partly due to having struck his head on the pavement as he fell.  

Delivering the sentence, Judge Smith said: “There is a play on at Nottingham Playhouse called Punch, it is the story of a man who punched someone in Market Square (Nottingham) and his head hit the pavement and he died.

"People need to watch that because when you hit someone like you did, it’s when they hit the ground that causes the problem."

Judge Smith added: "It can lead to manslaughter charges – that is how dangerous it is.”

Derby Crown Court also heard the landlady of a nearby pub who witnessed the blow describe Raynor-Smith’s victim hit the ground "so hard [she] thought he would be dead".

Raynor-Smith admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm and was given a suspended 12-month sentence for 18 months alongside 200 hours of unpaid work. 

Since its premiere Punch has received rave reviews, with The Stage praising its exploration of themes such as austerity and toxic masculinity and the Guardian calling it "powerful" and "fabulously directed". 

In a recent article for The Stage, Punch’s director Adam Penford described working closely with Jacob Dunne to do justice to his "real-life story" and to aid campaigns against violence and for prison reform.