Mother promotes ‘One Punch Can Kill’ campaign

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Jackie Malloy, from Hathershaw, Oldham, is the mother of Andrew Malloy. Andrew was a 25-year-old man who was drinking in Oldham when he was punched in the head by former amateur boxer, 22-year-old Louis Patrick Veitch, on March 15 this year.

The punch gave Andrew serious head injuries, which proved fatal six hours later in Hope Hospital. Veitch pleaded guilty to manslaughter at Manchester Crown Court, and in September he was jailed for six-and-a-half years.

To help prevent tragedies like this happening again, Mrs Malloy was interviewed to promote Greater Manchester Police’s One Punch Can Kill campaign.

Mrs Malloy explains what happened to Andrew that night: “He was just stood outside the Mess House pub in Oldham, he had his hands in his pockets and his coat over his shoulder, he was relaxed, he was with his friends.

“Then the young man, Louis Veitch, started to move around and, as he got to Andrew, he tapped him, there was no word spoken, he just tapped him, and, as Andrew turned round to see who it was, he punched him.

“He knocked Andrew unconscious straight away with the punch, and Andrew fell back into the road and suffered massive brain injuries.”

Mrs Malloy was asked if it was just one punch, she replied: “Yeah, just one punch, and that’s all it took to kill him.”

Here, Mrs Malloy explains why she thinks Louis Veitch punched Andrew: “Drink, I think he’d had a drink, maybe he wasn’t too drunk but he’d had enough obviously and he just did not care, and that’s the problem. People have too much to drink and then it just affects them in different ways; some people can be happy, some people get wound up over silly trivial things and they just throw punches out.

“It’s unbelievable, because you really don’t hear about the one punch, it’s all gun crime and knife crime you hear about all the time, but the one punch is not heard of, it’s not really heard of, it’s not printed, it’s not in the media or anything until it happens.

“There has been 13 in 5 years, and until it happened to Andrew, we didn’t really hear about it. So we want to do this campaign with the police, so that people are aware that all it takes is one punch. Too much drink, throwing punches out, and you can kill someone and it causes devastation.

“It’s something - you can’t explain what it’s like, it’s just awful.”


The one punch that killed Andrew has affected the family’s life so many ways,
“It’s affected us in every way shape and form you can think of, we’re all devastated,” said Mrs Malloy.

“Andrew was energetic and he was the giddy, lively one, always in and out of the house, always messing around with his friends and laughing and joking. Now he’s the last thing we think of before we go to bed and the first thing in the morning, and it’s there all day every day, and you can’t get over it.

“And it’s not just immediate family, it’s aunties, uncles, cousins, everybody, not just mum, dad, brother, sisters. He’s got a nephew and two nieces and then he’s got cousins and everything and everybody’s affected by it, and it’s just hard to get your head round, that one minute they’re there and the next minute they’re not.”

Mrs Malloy said the family miss everything about Andrew, “Everything, there isn’t anything we don’t. Even silly arguments, anything and everything. His smile, his laugh, his voice, anything and everything.”

Daily we hear about a gun being a lethal weapon, a knife being a lethal weapon, but we don’t hear about a fist being a lethal weapon. Mrs Malloy, said: “I know, and it is. Your fist is a lethal weapon and you don’t realise it because you don’t hear about it, but all it takes is that one punch and you can literally kill somebody with it, and they did it with Andrew.

“It’s the drink, because when you’ve had a drink - we want people to go out and enjoy themselves have a laugh and a drink, enjoy themselves and be with their friends - but if you think someone’s going to start or you get the urge, somebody’s wound you up and you’re thinking right I’ve had enough, don’t do it, just do not throw that one punch, don’t do it, because you can kill somebody and you’ll devastate a whole family, not just the immediate but you’ll devastate the complete family.

“You’ll end up serving a jail sentence, and you’ve got to live with that for the rest of your life; you’ve took somebody’s life just by hitting them once.”


When asked how Mrs Mallot feels towards Veitch, she said: “Oh God, I don’t know. I just wished he never moved to Oldham, I just wish he’d stayed in Blackpool and he’d never ever come to Oldham.”

She was asked if she feels angry towards him, “Very, very. Yeah. Because it was a meaningless, stupid thing to do, and he did it in a cowardly way.

“He’d been an amateur boxer, he knew the power, and you get these young men today, and they don’t know the power they’ve got in the fist; they don’t understand the damage they can cause with just an arm, a fist, a hand at the end of an arm.

“It’s a lethal weapon, a fist, a fist is a lethal weapon, and it’s been proved with Andrew’s death, that’s all it was, one punch.”

Finally, here is Mrs Malloy’s message to party-goers this festive season: “Enjoy yourself, have a laugh with your friends, be happy, and get on with your life and everything, but please don’t go to the point where you’ve had that much to drink, that your senses are not there. Take time out, have a coke or something in between drinks, and pace yourself.

“Don’t get to the point where you’ve had that much that you can’t think straight, because that’s the problem, too much drink, you can’t think straight, and you may lash out, and you cause this devastation to somebody else.”