A man accused of manslaughter following the death of a mother-of-three says he is sorry for what happened. 

Michelle Cooper, 40, suffered fatal injuries during a “melee” in Beach Way, Jaywick, in the early hours of April 23 last year.

The gym instructor was pronounced dead at Colchester Hospital two days later.

Bobby Nethercott, 32, of Park Square East, Jaywick, Demi Cole, 21, of Beach Way, Jaywick, Charlie Whittaker, 24, of Bemerton Gardens, Kirby Cross, and Jordan Stanley, 20, of Masterman Road, London, all denied murder.

Following a ruling at Chelmsford Crown Court, Nethercott, Whittaker and Stanley will now face a manslaughter charge instead. Cole will not face the manslaughter charge.

Nethercott told the trial yesterday he had pushed Mrs Cooper and said he was sorry for that action.

He said: “I’m deeply sorry for what has happened to the lady in question.

“Nothing I did on that night was intended for that to happen or the consequences of that.”

The court previously heard Michelle’s niece Kelly Cooper and a 16-year-old boy were chased from a leaving party towards Beach Way following an altercation.

Nethercott said he had been on the beach and came across a fight between up to 18 people and that he tried to intervene between Stanley and the boy, and then between two groups of girls.

But he admitted striking the boy, Louise and Michelle but said they hit him first.

Nethercott added: “There was fighting - there were arms and legs swinging everywhere.

“There was a lot of people hitting each other.

“Michelle was coming at me, hitting me. I pushed her away and she fell backwards.

“I pushed her away to prevent her from hitting me.”

Richard Christie, defending for Nethercott, asked him whether he kicked Michelle while she was on the ground, to which he replied: “No.”

Mr Christie asked Nethercott whether he was acting in self-defence at the time the blows were struck, to which he replied “yes”.

Nethercott, Whittaker and Stanley also deny two charges of assault causing actual bodily harm.

Nethercott denies two separate charges of assault causing actual bodily harm, while Cole faces a charge of actual bodily harm while she admits assaulting Elise Cooper.

The trial continues.