AFP/The Local · 28 May 2015, 08:20 
 
 Published: 28 May 2015 08:20 GMT+02:00 
 
 A French barman received a suspended jail sentence on Wednesday after he was convicted of manslaughter for letting a man do 56 shots during a drinking contest that led to his death. 
 
 Renaud Prudhomme, 56, broke the in-house shots record last October at Starter, a bar in the central French town of Clermont-Ferrand. 
 
 He had spent the evening with his daughter and some friends who helped him home in his inebriated state, but they soon had to phone the emergency services. 
 
 Prudhomme, a large man weighing around 120 kilos (260 pounds), died in hospital the following day. 
 
 Barman Gilles Crepin, 47, admitted at an earlier hearing that he had made "a mistake" by displaying the shots record on a noticeboard, encouraging the victim to go too far. 
 
 He was given a four-month suspended sentence by a local court on Wednesday and banned from working in a bar for a year. 
 
 His lawyer said he would appeal the ruling. 
 
 "It's a decision guided by emotion and the subconscious desire to set an example," said Renaud Portejoie, who had called for the case to be thrown out. 
 
 Portejoie said his client bore no responsibility, adding that it was the man's daughter who had pushed him to break the record, and that he had existing respiratory and alcohol abuse problems. 
 
 "We can't ask every customer who buys alcohol to present their medical certificates," said Portejoie. 
 
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 Antoine Portal, a lawyer for Prudhomme's daughter, said she was not at the bar at the time of the drinking competition. 
 
 "My client is relieved by this decision," Portal said of the ruling forbidding Crepin from working as a barman. 
 
 "We want to remind some professionals that it is illegal to serve alcohol to clients that are in an advanced state of inebriation," he added. 

 A French barman has been convicted of manslaughter after allowing a patron to drink 56 shots – an act which led to his death. 
 
 Renaud Prudhomme, 56, was attempting to break the supposed record for shots imbibed in October at the bar Starter, in the central French town of Clermont-Ferrand. 
 
 He was taken home in an inebriated state but died the next day, Le Figaro reported. 
 
 Renaud Prudhomme died after imbibing 56 shots of an unnamed alcohol (file picture) 
 
 Barman Gilles Crepin, 47, was charged with manslaughter, a “clearly deliberate violation of safety and prudence.” 
 
 Crepin was given a four-month suspended prison sentence and was banned from working in a bar for a year. 
 
 His lawyer Renaud Portejoie said he would be appealing the decision. 
 
 He also told the court Prudhomme had existing respiratory and alcohol abuse problems, the BBC reports. 
 
 “We can’t ask every customer who buys alcohol to present their medical certificates,” he said. 
 
 An autopsy found Prudhomme’s death came “following a bronchial inhalation alcoholic coma”. 
 
 Excessive amounts of alcohol can lead to a number of harmful physical and psychological effects such as alcohol poisoning and cirrhosis of the liver, the NHS writes. 
 
 
 
 Long term misuse can lead to heart disease, stroke, liver disease and liver cancer. 
 
 Men should not regularly drink more than 3-4 units of alcohol a day, and women should not regularly drink more than 2-3 units a day.
– A bartender in France has been handed a four-month suspended sentence for manslaughter after a patron fatally threw back 56 shots to break his bar's record, AFP reports. Renaud Prudhomme, 56—and weighing 260 pounds, per the Local—was helped home from Starter bar in Clermont-Ferrand last October after the drinking competition. Emergency services were called for Prudhomme soon after; he was taken to a hospital, where he died the next day of "a bronchial inhalation alcoholic coma," Le Figaro reports, per the Huffington Post. Bartender Gilles Crepin, 47, admitted he shouldn't have posted the shots record, which perhaps pushed Prudhomme too far. A judge sentenced Crepin this week and banned him from working in a bar for a year. Crepin's lawyer, Renaud Portejoie, says he'll appeal, calling it "a decision guided by emotion and the unconscious desire to set an example." Portejoie argued the brunt of the blame was on the victim's daughter, who encouraged her dad to beat the record, though he had existing respiratory and alcohol abuse problems, unbeknownst to Crepin. "We can't ask every customer who buys alcohol to present their medical certificates," Portejoie says. A lawyer for Prudhomme's daughter says his client wasn't at the bar at the time of the competition and is "relieved by this decision." He adds, "We want to remind some professionals that it is illegal to serve alcohol to clients that are in an advanced state of inebriation." (Forget 56 shots: More than one or two drinks daily can be dangerous.)