Car washer cleared of manslaughter after week-long trial

A car wash worker was cleared of manslaughter today (Monday 10 March) after a week-long trial at Hove Crown Court.

Lucian Sorenau, 32, of Heron Court, Swanborough Place, Brighton, was charged with killing Anthony Barrigan, 44, a father of two, from Liverpool.

Mr Barrigan died from a blood clot in his lung six weeks after the fight which happened in Windsor Street, Brighton, on the night of Saturday 18 June 2022.

The jury also acquitted Sorenau of assaulting Mr Barrigan’s girlfriend Sarah Chollerton, causing her actual bodily harm (ABH) but he was convicted of affray.

Sorenau, who was joined in the dock by a Romanian interpreter throughout the trial, did not give evidence during his trial.

But, in a police interview, he said that he had acted in self-defence, saying that Miss Chollerton had hit him first when he refused to give her a light for her cigarette.

Judge Christine Henson summed up the facts before sending the jury out at 12.42pm today – and when they returned their verdicts just a few hours later, she told Sorenau that he would be sentenced for affray next month.

Ben Irwin, prosecuting, told the jury last week that Sorenau had hit Miss Chollerton and then attacked Mr Barrigan after he went to her defence.

Mr Irwin said that Mr Barrigan ended up on the ground. Sorenau stamped on his right ankle, breaking it and causing him the most excruciating pain that he had ever felt in his life.

After a while Mr Barrigan managed to phone 999 – his call was played to the jury and a statement that he gave to Sussex Police was read out in court.

He said that he was trying to calm the situation and added: “I lost my footing. I fell to the floor.”

When another man arrived on the scene, Sorenau left. He went into Windsor Court where – after officers had to force their way in to a flat – he was arrested by Sussex Police.

Mr Irwin told the jury that Sorenau was found in a bed. He was intoxicated. Another man was there – Marian Firicescu. He was also arrested but no charges were laid against him.

Both Mr Barrigan and Miss Chollerton suffered black eyes and fat lips as well as other injuries and the father of two was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton.

He collapsed at Miss Chollerton’s home in Birmingham six weeks after the attack, on Monday 1 August 2022, when a blood clot travelled from Mr Barrigan’s ankle wound to his lungs.

She called 999 and, although an ambulance arrived within minutes, the paramedics were unable to save him.

Two months later, in October, Miss Chollerton picked out Sorenau in “an identification procedure”.

Mr Irwin told the jury that Sorenau’s defence was that he was acting in lawful self-defence but it was the prosecution’s case that he was the aggressor.

He said that Sorenau was not acting in self-defence when he continued to attack Mr Barrigan and stamp on him when he was on the ground.

Mr Irwin said that these were unlawful assaults on both victims that also give rise to an affray, given the level of violence.

Daniel Darnborough, defending, said: “The defendant was defending himself. This was an incredibly unfortunate break (to the ankle) caused during the course of a struggle involving three people.”

“He (Sorenau) was the one who was attacked. Mr Barrigan’s ankle was broken in an unfortunate fall.”

Sorenau is due to be sentenced next month. The starting point in the most serious cases of affray is two years in prison and the maximum sentence in law is three years.