Haunting photos of 18-year-old Ben Smith show him enjoying a night out in fancy dress—moments before his life was cut short by a single punch. Just minutes after that picture was taken, Ben lay in the hospital with catastrophic head injuries. Two days later, his life support was switched off.
Ben, who was out in Bath with friends, was described by his family as someone with “everything to live for.” But since his death, they say they’ve faced nothing but disappointment and frustration in their search for justice, reported Somerset Live.
The incident, which happened in the early hours of November 1, 2021, began when a man in a dressing gown reportedly pushed one of Ben’s female friends in McDonald’s. CCTV footage viewed by the family shows Ben stepping in to defend her. His mum, Rachel, said, “Ben had been defending a girl and may have been verbally very angry. But the suspect turned it into a physical altercation.”
Moments later, Ben was punched and fell backwards, hitting his head. His family says the footage also shows a second punch while he was already falling. “Ben falls like a tree,” Rachel recalled. “He was unconscious already on the way down”, reported Bristol Live.
Rachel said, “There is a dead body of an 18-year-old boy who no one has a bad word to say about. He never punched himself. At the moment, he is being blamed for his own death.”
Despite what they describe as “horrific” footage, the Crown Prosecution Service has ruled three times that there’s not enough evidence to take the case to court. Police did arrest a suspect, but the CPS said it couldn’t be proven that the punch wasn’t self-defence. Rachel and Ben’s dad, Arthur, strongly disagrees.
The family believes police failed in the early stages of the investigation—no immediate witness statements, no arrest until later, and no toxicology test for the suspect. “We feel it was a botched investigation from the start,” Rachel said.
Now they’re calling for a change in the law. Arthur wants a new rule—Ben’s Law—that would mean claims of self-defence must be tested in court. “What we’ve gone through is absolutely horrendous,” he said. “The law should be changed.”
Ben’s town, Melksham, has rallied around the family, raising nearly £30,000 in his memory. But Rachel says they won’t stop until his name is cleared. “We are completely broken, and there needs to be a real answer. But I don’t know how we’re going to get it.”
