TV star Stephen Tompkinson ‘fell to his knees in his PJs and cradled head in hands after punching stranger in street’
ACTOR Stephen Tompkinson fell to his knees in his PJs and held his head in his hands after punching a stranger in the street, a court heard.
The DCI Banks star, 57, is accused of causing Karl Poole traumatic brain injuries when he knocked him out following a noise row.
Newcastle Crown Court heard how there was a “hitting of flesh” followed by a “cracking sound” as Karl fell to the ground.
Tompkinson was then seen “on his haunches with his hands on his head” following the horror outside his home in North Tyneside.
The actor, who denies GBH, had confronted Karl and pal Andrew Hall as they drunkenly walked past his property making noise.
Andrew said: “It was very quick, I heard the hitting of flesh.
“The speed and velocity and the sound when he hit the ground, it was obvious what had happened.”
Jurors were told Karl remained unconscious on the ground and was “snoring”.
He was taken to hospital where medics found he had suffered a number of fractures to his skull which resulted in “significant traumatic brain injuries”.
After he was arrested, Tompkinson told officers he had asked the two men to move on so his partner and her child would not be disturbed.
He said the pair had acted aggressively and came towards him, so he pushed Andrew away and “raised a hand” to defend against Karl, jurors heard.
The court was told both Karl and Andrew had been drinking for around five hours when they walked past Tompkinson’s home.
Witnesses said they were laughing and “lying on the path” during the early hours of the morning when the actor approached them.
Neighbour Caroline Davidson said Tompkinson “was using hand movements to ask them to move away” and at one point “pulled his fist back” but put it down “more or less straight away”.
The actor then walked back to his home, where he phoned police himself to tell them he had removed a bottle of Jagermeister from them and asked them to move on.
Ms Davidson told the court the two men began to walk away when Tompkinson came back out.
She added: “The next thing I knew the neighbour had stepped forward and he had slapped one of the gentlemen, the one without the top on, with his right hand and then punched him on the head with his left hand.”
Asked if there was anything that “precipitated that action”, she replied: “No.”
Prosecutor Michael Bunch said: “The prosecution say the defendant, angry at the noise the two men were making, ended up punching one of them, knocking him to the floor so that he banged his head and sustained traumatic brain injuries.
“The defendant claims he did no more than push away the man in self-defence after the two had come towards him.”
Tompkinson rose to fame playing Father Peter Clifford in 1996’s Ballykissangel.
In the same year, he appeared as Phil in hit film Brassed Off.
He has also appeared in TV shows including Drop The Dead Donkey, Wild At Heart, Minder, New Tricks, Grafters and Ted And Alice.
He was in DCI Banks for six years until the show was axed in 2016.