Men are cleared of killing rugby star's father

Three men accused of killing the father of an England rugby union player were cleared of manslaughter yesterday.

Peter Cohen, 58, whose son Ben, 23, is an England rugby union winger and whose brother, George, was a member of the 1966 World Cup team, died after an incident at a Northampton nightclub.

Colin Kerr, his brother, Gavin, and their friend Robert Evans were found not guilty of Mr Cohen's manslaughter at the end of a two-and-a-half-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court. But they were each convicted of violent disorder.

Colin Kerr, 32, Gavin Kerr, 33, and Evans, 32, had denied the charges . It took a jury, of seven women and five men, ten and a half hours to reach a verdict.

Ben and George Cohen sat through most of the trial, but yesterday the rugby international was training with the England squad for Saturday's Six Nations match against Scotland.

The court was told that Peter Cohen, a nightclub manager, tried to throw the three men out of the Eternity club in Northampton on 30 October 2000. David Farrell QC, for the prosecution, said: "These three defendants [had] fuelled themselves with drink at various pubs around Northampton before they went to the Eternity nightclub, spoiling for a fight."

As Mr Cohen pointed at Colin Kerr to leave, Kerr launched an attack on him, knocking him to the ground, the court was told. During the brawl, Mr Cohen split his head open on the side of the club's cash machine.

Elizabeth Roberts, a bar worker, told the court that she and a doorman pulled the three men away from Mr Cohen and helped him behind the bar.

She said Mr Cohen had blood running down his face and his shirt was ripped. He was taken upstairs, breathless and slipping in and out of consciousness.

An ambulance was called, and he was taken to hospital, where he died from deep-vein thrombosis a month later.

When police interviewed the defendants before Mr Cohen's death, they claimed that he had started the fight, and they were defending themselves.

Mr Justice Mott deferred sentencing until Friday.