THE trial began yesterday of two Newport men accused of murdering a young father, Wesley Strawbridge. Crime reporter JENNY BRENTNALL reports.

On the night he died, the court was told Mr Strawbridge had been drinking in Newport city centre.

At around 11pm he was in Revolution, then went on to the Cotton Club, leaving at around 3.59am.

Dolling and Wood had spent the night of the incident in Cardiff celebrating their employer's birthday, the prosecution said.

They returned to Newport by taxi in the early hours of the morning, and CCTV shows them with Christopher Davies and Dafydd Williams.

They encountered Ben Gallagher, who had a history with Dolling, and the men exchanged insults and challenges.

This was resolved, until Mr Strawbridge - an old friend of Mr Gallagher - arrived and got involved. The prosecution alleges he squared up to Wood and headbutted him in the face giving him a nosebleed.

There was a struggle and Strawbridge fell to the ground, where he was allegedly kicked in the back by Dolling.

Mr Jenkins said when Mr Strawbridge got up he was annoyed, removed his top and allegedly challenged Dolling: "Come on. You're hard enough to kick me in the back, so let's have a go now I'm up."

Dolling and Wood walked away initially, but returned, hurling more insults.

Mr Jenkins said Dolling went into an area of scrubland and emerged holding a 2ft long tree branch, around 2ins wide and weighing around 2.5lbs.

Mr Jenkins said: "He was brandishing it and banging it on the ground, shouting threats towards Wesley Strawbridge and Ben Gallagher."

The groups then fragmented and headed across the Old Green Roundabout towards Sainsbury's where the final incident took place.

The prosecution alleges Wood punched Wesley Strawbridge to the head - a heavy blow which knocked him to the ground.

It is then alleged that Dolling beat Mr Strawbridge repeatedly with the branch, although Dolling claimed at interview he only hit him once.

Mr Jenkins said: "Wood did nothing to restrain Dolling or to dissuade him from the attack, and simply watched it as it went on."

The men are then alleged to have run away, but handed themselves in to police the next day, after hearing Mr Strawbridge was dead.

Ex-soldier loved family WESLEY Strawbridge, 25, was a former Bettws High School pupil.

He joined the army in January 2000 and served with the Welsh Guards until February 2002, where he gained a reputation as an excellent boxer.

After two years in the army he was discharged for going absent without leave to be with his pregnant girlfriend.

She gave birth to Mr Strawbridge's son but the couple later separated.

At the time of his death, Mr Strawbridge was living alone in Newport, but had a close relationship with his family.

Man had multiple fractures THE court heard that a postmortem examination showed Mr Strawbridge died from blunt force trauma to the head. His injuries included brain injuries, multiple skull and jaw fractures as well as fractured cheeks and eye sockets. He also had a deep laceration to his ear and had bled into his airways and lungs.

The court heard he had remnants of cocaine and diazepam in his system and had been three and a half times over the drink drive limit.