DCI Banks star Stephen Tompkinson was in PJs and dressing gown ‘when he punched drunk stranger’

Stephen Tompkinson was in his dressing gown when he punched a drunken stranger outside his home in an alleged assault that left the man ‘unconscious on the ground’, a court has heard.

The DCI Banks star, 57, is attending day two of his trial for allegedly causing grievous bodily harm against Karl Poole and causing him traumatic brain injuries.

The incident took place outside the actor’s house in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, at around 5.30am on May 30, 2021. Tompkinson denies the charge and is expected to argue self-defence. 

Social worker Andrew Hall told Newcastle Crown Court today that he heard the ‘hitting of flesh’ followed by a ‘cracking’ sound as his friend Mr Poole fell to the ground in the alleged assault by Tompkinson.

Meanwhile a neighbour of Tompkinson today told the court that she saw the actor slap and punch a drunk man in the head after asking him to move away from his home in the early hours of the morning. 

The 57-year-old donned a dark pinstriped suit and red tie as he was pictured heading into Newcastle Crown Court on Thursday morning.

Karl Poole was pictured outside Newcastle Crown Court this week as the court case got underway

Mr Hall claimed that in the aftermath, Tompkinson showed ‘a bit of humanity and remorse’ and was seen ‘on his haunches with his hands on his head.’ 

Recalling the timeline of the incident, Mr Hall said he first heard ‘shouting and a commotion’ before spotting his drunken friend Mr Poole talking loudly with Tompkinson on the driveway of the TV star’s home. 

Mr Hall said he then managed to calm the situation down and the two men walked away from Tompkinson, who was in his pyjamas and dressing gown.

But moments later there was an incident that left Mr Poole lying unconscious on the ground with ‘traumatic head injuries’, the court heard. 

Mr Hall told Newcastle Crown Court: ‘Someone came walking over and I heard the hit of flesh and Karl rapidly hit the floor.’

He added: ‘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.’

The two men had been drinking for at least five hours before they walked down to the seafront where they paddled in the water and then began walking back to Mr Hall’s house, also in Whitley Bay.

Both were drunk and the men were making a noise when Tompkinson came outside to remonstrate with them, the court heard.

After the alleged assault, which the prosecution claim was caused by a punch, Mr Hall said his friend remained unconscious on the ground and was ‘snoring.’

Actor Stephen Tompkinson arrives at Newcastle Crown Court on Thursday where he is on trial charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm

DCI Banks star Stephen Tompkinson pictured arriving at Newcastle Crown Court this morning for the second day of his trial

He rang the emergency services at 5.57am and told the ambulance operator Mr Poole had been ‘knocked out by someone.’

The operator asked him: ‘He has been assaulted is that right?’

Mr Hall replied: ‘That’s right yeah.’

He added: ‘I think he has been hit on the head, I can’t get him to respond.’

Under cross-examination from Nicholas Lumley, KC, Mr Hall admitted he didn’t see Tompkinson strike his friend.

‘I never saw how he ended up on the floor,’ he said.

Mr Lumley said: ‘You didn’t hear the sound of the impact that caused him to fall?’

Mr Hall said: ‘No, not 100 per cent no.’

On Thursday, Tompkinson’s neighbour Caroline Davidson said she was woken by ‘hysterical laughter’ and looked out of her bedroom window to see two men lying on the floor.

She told the court the men appeared ‘very drunk,’ were ‘wobbling’ from side-to-side while one of them – Mr Poole – was just wearing boxer shorts.

Mrs Davidson said she went back to bed but got up again when she heard a voice with a ‘different tone’.

DCI Banks star Stephen Tompkinson arrives for day two of his trial for allegedly punching a drunken stranger and leaving him with traumatic brain injuries

The 57-year-old is accused of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Poole – who jurors were told was dressed in just his underpants after swimming in the North Sea – on May 30, 2021. Pictured: On the popular ITV series 

DCI Banks star Stephen Tompkinson pictured arriving at Newcastle Crown Court with his solicitor on Thursday morning for the second day of his trial

Mr Poole, pictured, and his friend, Andrew Hall, had been guzzling booze since around midnight and had gone to the beach to watch the sunrise before walking back to Mr Hall’s house, passing Tompkinson’s home in Beech Grove on the way 

The court heard she knew Tompkinson as the resident of the house across the road but had not spoken to him since he moved in two or three years previously.

Mrs 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’ before walking back towards his house while apparently making a phone call.

She told the court the two men then got up with some difficulty, put their arms around each other and ‘started to try and walk off’ when her neighbour came out again.

She said: ‘The two males started to turn. You could see maybe something was being said.

‘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 by prosecutor Michael Bunch if there was anything that ‘precipitated that action’, Mrs Davidson said: ‘No.’

She said she was ‘100% sure’ that the neighbour had moved towards the two men.

Mrs Davidson told the court Mr Poole ‘stumbled backwards and fell’.

‘He just went straight back and his head hit the ground. He just, he didn’t move.

‘He didn’t even put his hands out to stop himself, he just hit the ground.’

Mrs Davidson said Tompkinson came out of his house when the police arrived and spoke to two officers.

She said he then placed a bottle of Jagermeister at the feet of the man lying on the floor.

Jurors have previously heard Tompkinson told police he had taken a bottle from the two men.

Asked if the two men made any aggressive actions towards her neighbour at any point, Mrs Davidson said: ‘No.’

Tompkinson, 57, who has starred in TV hits DCI Banks and Ballykissangel, has denied causing grievous bodily harm.

The trial continues.