Inmate charged with murder over attack in Cannock in 2012

Police said the two men were involved in "an altercation" in an alleyway near the house they lived in on 9 November, 2012

A man jailed for seriously injuring his housemate has been charged with murder, four years after the alleyway attack.

Gareth Rowton, 35, is serving an 11 year sentence after admitting grievous bodily harm with intent over the attack in Cannock in 2012, police said.

David Stanton remained in care after the incident outside their home in Old Fallow Road and died on 29 June, 2015.

A post-mortem examination found he died from "delayed complications of a severe brain injury", police said.

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Mr Stanton was 61 when he died.

"Detectives were authorised to charge Rowton with murder by the Crown Prosecution Service, on behalf of the attorney general, and he was charged last Wednesday [12 October 2016]," a police spokeswoman said.

Rowton will appear before magistrates at the North Staffordshire Justice Centre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, on 10 November.