He had just watched his beloved Newcastle United win their first trophy in his lifetime when Andrew Clarke declared to his wife and daughter that it was the best day of his life.
But a mere 15 minutes later he popped to his local Sainsbury’s to buy groceries for Sunday dinner – where a chance encounter with a rude, queue-jumping stranger would cost him his life.
Today, after that stranger, Demiesh Williams, admitted killing Andrew, his widow told of her devastation at having her partner of 23 years so cruelly taken from her – and her fury at the judicial system that she says all but let his killer get away scot-free.
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, Cairistine Clark at the family home said: ‘We will carry Andrew’s loss for the rest of our lives but his killer will get his life back in three years. No justice has been served.’
Williams, 30, who towered over his victim, reacted with fury when Andrew challenged him for cutting in front of others in the queue at the convenience store in the south London suburb of Beckenham.
Andrew, a loving father to their only child, 14-year-old Rose, died in hospital three days later.
Mrs Clark – who met commodities trader Andrew 23 years ago when they were both working in the City – spoke to the Daily Mail at the family home just five minutes from the spot where he was fatally attacked.
She told us: ‘The court case was an utterly devastating day for our family. No justice has been served. There is no justice for a life taken.
Andrew Clark, 43, (pictured with wife Cairistine Clark) died after an altercation at the tills in Beckenham, south-east London, in March
Mrs Clark said the family will carry her husband’s ‘loss for the rest of our lives’ but his killer ‘will get his life back in three years’
Demiesh Williams, 30, was jailed last week for five years, and is likely to be released in three
CCTV showed the moment bus driver Williams returned to carry out the attack
‘He won’t even serve three years in prison. It’s two Christmases and he’ll be out. He will be 32 when he gets out. And it’s an absolute joke.
‘What kind of message does this sentence give to violent criminals? We will carry this loss for the rest of our lives.
‘Yet he [Williams] will return to his. That is something I cannot understand, and I cannot accept.
‘Sentences must reflect the severity of the crime. If this can happen to us, an ordinary family, then it can happen to you.’
Mrs Clark, now a teaching assistant, witnessed the death of her husband just 15 minutes after he celebrated watching his team Newcastle United’s Carabao Cup victory over Liverpool at their home on March 16.
She said: ‘Andrew told me, ‘This is the best day of my life’. He shared a photo in his Newcastle shirt in the family group chat. He was so happy.
‘We went to the shop to pick up some groceries, and then he was dead.
‘We were doing what millions of families do, we went out to buy milk and bread. That’s it.
‘We were an ordinary, hardworking family, going about our lives.’
Inside the store, Williams pushed ahead in the queue, prompting Mr Clark to challenge him.
Williams, of nearby Purley, became aggressive, threatening to ‘get him outside’ before leaving the shop and returning to his car.
Mrs Clark said: ‘I remember thinking he was intimidating just by standing there.
‘He was huge. He barely fit in the aisle, and I felt uncomfortable even before anything was said.’
She said Andrew’s raised voice alarmed her because it was so out of character.
‘Andrew wasn’t confrontational — ever,’ she said. ‘When I heard his voice, I knew something wasn’t right.’
Mrs Clark said Williams repeatedly threatened her husband in front of other horrified shoppers and staff.
She said: ‘The killer said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll get him outside. He said it more than once. People heard it. It wasn’t subtle.’
Mrs Clark, a teaching assistant, witnessed the death of her husband just 15 minutes after he celebrated watching Newcastle United’s Carabao Cup win over Liverpool at their home
The killer struck Mr Clark with an open hand, causing him to fall backwards and hit his head
Fearing a confrontation outside, she deliberately delayed leaving the store.
‘I pretended I needed to buy more things. I was trying to keep us inside because I was genuinely scared he’d be waiting,’ she said.
But moments after they stepped outside, the mother saw Williams coming back towards them wearing a black face covering.
She said: ‘I just saw this thing striding towards us with intent. His eyes were dark and full of anger. And then – smack. It was like a crack. Like a gunshot.’
CCTV showed the moment bus driver Williams returned to carry out the attack.
The killer struck Mr Clark with an open hand, causing him to fall backwards and hit his head.
The father never regained consciousness and died three days later in hospital.
‘People keep talking about it being ‘only a slap’,’ Mrs Clark said. ‘But I’ve seen the scans. I’ve seen the damage. He killed him with his bare hands.
‘I was only a few steps behind him. I saw everything. I heard everything. And then he was gone.’
As Mr Clark lay gravely wounded, Williams fled the scene, driving away with his young child still in his car.
Fighting back tears, the heartbroken mother said: ‘I held him, I’m sure he died in my arms.
‘He [Williams] just ran. He didn’t look back. He didn’t check. He just left.’
The case was set to go to trial, but Williams admitted one count of manslaughter.
At sentencing, Mrs Clark said her pain was made worse by receiving no apology from Williams and for what she described as disrespect from the defendant’s family.
She said: ‘He has never said a word to us. No apology. No acknowledgement. Just silence.
‘Members of his family were smirking. Watching that while hearing the man who killed my husband would get just five years and three months was a profound insult to our grief.’
She said her family eventually walked out of court before the judge had finished speaking.
Mrs Clark said: ‘We couldn’t sit there any longer, It was too humiliating. It was too painful.’
At the hearing at Woolwich Crown Court, Judge Andrew Lees made an error by mixing up Mr Clark’s name in his closing remarks.
Mrs Clark said: ‘Even Andrew’s name and important details of the case were spoken incorrectly. The judge called him Ryan.
CCTV showed the moment bus driver Williams returned to carry out the attack
Mr Clark, 43, was beaten outside Sainsbury’s in Beckenham, south-east London, by Demiesh Williams, 30, who smacked him with an open palm
‘After a full week of waiting, hoping he would take time to reflect and understand the weight of what has happened, hearing those mistakes was like being struck all over again.
‘We expected accuracy, dignity and respect.
‘Instead felt like we were just caught up in a process — papers moving, boxes being ticked — without anyone really seeing the people at the centre of it.
‘We felt invisible throughout the process and whenever we spoke up we were told ‘it’s the law’.
‘Well the law in its current form is not enough, there must be stricter sentences for taking a life and I will campaign to see this through.’
Under the current system, Williams will be eligible for release after serving two-thirds of his sentence, amounting to just three years.
Mrs Clark said. ‘That’s barely three years. Three years for taking a life.’
‘Sentences needs to be stronger because people are just going to reoffend.
‘If you know that you’re gonna kill somebody and you’re gonna get three and a half years, it’s not going to stop violent people.
‘Now Rose is growing up without her dad. He was everything to her.
‘He was a generous loving husband and dad to our lovely Rose. He was also really liked by our whole community.
‘He was easy to talk to, kind, generous. He gave his time, his care, his love.
‘He spent a lot of time with our local butchers, the craft beer place across the road, the estate agents, everybody knew him because he was so kind so generous and he had time for everybody.
‘He made time for everybody and that’s very important bit about Andrew, he was so selfless, so caring, so patient and generous, he had very very kind nature and he doesn’t deserve this.
‘Andrew does not deserve this. But equally other families don’t deserve this either, because we’re the innocent victims.
‘His death has changed everything. Every moment of our life is changed.
‘It’s like a living nightmare. Everything has changed. Every part of our life is changed by one callous act of violence. It’s incredibly unfair.’
In the days after his death, their home was filled with hundreds of flowers and cards from friends and mourners.
The heartbroken mother-ofone Mrs Clarke said: ‘I held him, I’m sure he died in my arms’
As Christmas approaches, she said the absence feels sharper than ever.
There is now one stocking missing on her mantlepiece.
Mrs Clark, who plans to meet with the Crown Prosecution Service to address her concerns, refelcted on the sentence of the man who took away her husband, saying: ‘Well… no years is enough for Andrew’s life… no years, but three and a half years in custody for killing my husband is an absolute insult to our whole family, all of our friends and the wider community. It’s an insult.
‘How can my husband’s life be worth just three and a half years in custody? Something needs to change.
‘We have a system which prioritises offenders over victims.
‘We were told again and again, ‘It’s the law’,’ she said. ‘But laws are written by people. And laws can be changed.
‘We did nothing wrong. Yet we were made to feel like we were the problem — like we were on trial.’
‘We live in a society where violence is increasing and accountability is shrinking.
‘We speak out not just for ourselves. But for every family who’s been failed by this system.
‘We cannot stay silent. Change must come, because no family should ever have to stand where we are standing now.’
The couple’s daughter said in statement to the court that Williams had ‘destroyed’ her family in the ‘cruellest way possible way.’
In a statement read to the court by her aunt, she said: ‘My dad was not just my dad. He was my best friend. We did everything together.’
She addressed the killer, saying: ‘You did this to my dad. My dad was the most generous man I know. I don’t want to live my life without him.
‘You got to keep your family, while you destroyed mine in the cruellest way.’
Mrs Clarke says the five years and three months sentence handed down to the man who killed her husband is not enough
The father never regained consciousness and died three days after the attack in hospital
The surprisingly short sentence for Williams has led to a widespread public outcry with shadow
Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick describing it as ‘paltry’.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Mr Jenrick said: ‘Williams committed an appalling crime and yet his prison sentence is paltry.
‘A five year sentence, reduced further under the early release scheme, is not justice. I am writing to the Attorney General asking that it is reconsidered.’
The Daily Mail understands that Mr Jenrick is going to appeal Williams’s sentence.
