The actor Stephen Tompkinson punched a man outside his home in the early hours of the morning and left him with traumatic brain injuries after confronting him for drunkenly making noise in his underpants, prosecutors have told a jury.
The 57-year-old DCI Banks star is on trial at Newcastle crown court accused of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Karl Poole on 30 May 2021.
Prosecutor Michael Bunch said Tompkinson called police at about 5.30am to report two drunken men outside his house in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside. He told officers he had taken a bottle of Jägermeister from them and wanted them “moved on”, jurors heard.
About half an hour later, a neighbour called the emergency services to report that one of the men was lying unconscious in the street.
That neighbour, Caroline Davidson, who watched the incident from her bedroom window, later told officers she saw Tompkinson slap Poole with his right hand before punching him to the head with his left fist.
She said Poole stumbled and fell backwards, striking his head on the roadway.
The prosecutor told the court that Poole and his friend, Andrew Hall, had been drinking since around midnight and had gone to the beach to watch the sunrise before walking back to Hall’s house, passing Tompkinson’s home on Beech Grove.
Davidson was woken by the noise of the two men “laughing and carrying on” and looked out of her window to see them lying on a path near Tompkinson’s address.
“She could see that one, later found to be Mr Poole, had on only his underpants, with a towel lying on the path next to him.”
Bunch said Davidson went back to bed but looked out again when she heard another voice about five minutes later and saw the defendant standing on his driveway speaking to the two men.
The prosecutor said: “Mrs Davidson watched as the defendant approached the two men, who were wobbling from side to side. The defendant first slapped Mr Poole with his right hand before punching him to the head with his left fist.
“Mr Poole stumbled and then fell backwards, striking his head on the roadway, where he lay unconscious. Concerned for what she had seen, Mrs Davidson asked her husband to call the ambulance service.”
The court heard that after Poole had gone to the floor, Tompkinson used his mobile phone to record two separate clips of the two men but did not ring for an ambulance.
Poole, who was still unconscious, was taken to hospital and found to have a fractured skull with resulting significant traumatic brain injuries, jurors heard.
Tompkinson denies the charge and the trial continues.
