A landlord who chased an American tourist to his death while wielding an ironing board has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Father-of-two Rostam Notarki, 53, was sentenced at the Old Bailey today in front of his family.

At an earlier hearing he was found guilty of causing the death of Charles Hickox, also 53, when he chased him from the Cardinal Wolsey Pub in Hampton Court on September 7, last year.

Notarki, of Beech Way in Twickenham, had asked the American, described by prosecutor Michelle Nelson as “rich and eccentric” to leave the pub earlier in the day, and when Mr Hickox returned and began swinging two tennis racquets near the bar, Notarki chased him off the premises while brandishing an ironing board.

Claiming he was acting in self defence, Notarki denied manslaughter saying Mr Hickox had attacked him with a tennis racquet and he feared the same would be done to his son.

Mr Hickox ran into Hampton Court Road and was hit by a Mercedes van at about 7.30pm, causing severe injuries to his brain.

Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene just after 8.30pm.

During the Old Bailey trial prosecutor Ms Nelson said: "Footage shows Rostam Notarki holding the ironing board aloft. Mr Hickox reaches the road and Rostam Notarki can be seen striking the victim, propelling him into the road."

Investigating officers later found an ironing board at the premises with one of its legs damaged.

Notarki’s son, 20-year-old Kian, and pub employee Mehrad Mohmadi, of Radcliffe Mews in Hampton, were also found guilty of perverting the course of justice by removing CCTV equipment that captured the fatal moment.

Both were sentenced to 12 months in jail today, with Mohmadi waving up at the public gallery as he was taken away.

In summing up judge Mark Lucraft QC said Notarki had held the ironing board “at shoulder height, like a spear or harpoon,” before throwing it in the direction of Mr Hickox.

Judge Lucraft said: “Rostam Notarki you can then be seen to throw the ironing board to the ground in something of a temper.”

All three men were of “impeccable character” and their actions on the evening were wholly out of character, he added.

Before delivering his sentences Judge Lucraft said he had considered a number of factors.

He said: “On the evidence of the trial it is clear that you, Rostam Notarki, intended to assault the victim.

“You armed yourself with an ironing board.

“In anger, you hit the deceased with an ironing board without warning.

“You demonstrated contempt for him, giving him cheaper wine [than the wine he paid for].

“You hid the CCTV and told the ambulance and police that Charles Hickox was drunk and had fallen in the road.”

During the trial the court also heard how Mr Hickox had gone to the nearby Mute Swan, where he had sat with three strangers, after he was asked to leave the Cardinal Wolsey pub earlier in the evening.

He had told the trio he had left his credit card at the Cardinal Wolsey and might have to "crack some ribs" when he went back to get it.

He then said if he did not return in 20 minutes they should give his belongings to charity, indicating to some alcohol and eggs.

Mr Hickox left the Mute Swan with the tennis rackets and one of the men, Femi Omomo, who gave evidence in the trial, said to his friends, "if we hear sirens we will know that it’s him".

Rostam Notarki, who worked as a qualified engineer and moved to the UK from Iran in 1982, had denied manslaughter and perverting the court of justice, but changed his plea for the latter some time into the trial.  

He was found guilty for manslaughter on July 1.

His son Kian Notarki, 20, a student at Warwick University with dreams of working in the renewable energy sector, had denied perverting the course of justice along with pub employee Mohmadi, of Radcliffe Mews in Hampton.

They were both found guilty unanimously by the Old Bailey jury. 

Denis Barry, defending Kian Notarki, said of his client: “It is plain he is a talented student and come from a close-knit and quite privileged family.

“Kian Notarki is very aware of that, and the extent to which he has let himself down and potentially thrown away the very promising future he had.

“There is no prospect of reoffending whatsoever.

“It is plain that there was to a certain extent, and still remains, loyalty to a father and this is never a bad quality unless it is taken to excess.”

Both dressed smartly father and son stood calmly together in the dock as their sentences were given.

All three will serve at least half of their custodial sentences.