Londoner Found Guilty of Manslaughter in Guildford

Published on: 30 Jun, 2015
Updated on: 1 Jul, 2015

Matthew Boyd found guilty of the manslaughter of Guildford man Richard Stroud.

A man from London has been found guilty and sentenced to eight years for the manslaughter of Richard Stroud in Guildford earlier this year.

Mr Stroud, 46, from Guildford was assaulted outside of the Guildford City Social Club in Joseph’s Road at around 10pm on Saturday, January 3 and was pronounced dead at St George’s Hospital in Tooting at around 4.55am the following morning. A post mortem later established the cause of death to be a head injury.

The offender, Matthew Boyd, 32, of Waverley Road in London was quickly arrested near the scene and was today (Monday, 29 June) found guilty of manslaughter following a week-long trial at Guildford Crown Court.

Boyd was also found guilty of assault against another man attending the same private family function and sentenced to a further two years to run consecutively.

Senior Investigating Officer Detective Chief Inspector Paul Rymarz from the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team, said: “This was an extremely tragic incident in which a man sadly lost his life, our thoughts continue to be with Mr Stroud’ loved ones at this difficult time.

“Boyd is clearly a violent individual and I hope the sentence passed to him today will give him time to reflect on the impact he has caused to those close to Mr Stroud.

“Mr Stroud’s family and friends have asked for their privacy to be respected and I would ask the media to please respect their wishes.”

Richard Stroud: “he didn’t have a bad bone in his body”.

A statement on behalf of Richard’s family and friends said: “Those who knew Richard know that he didn’t have a bad bone in his body and was never confrontational or intimidating.

“Richard’s family were all with him when he died and there will be an emptiness in our lives but Richard will remain in our hearts forever”.