Danny Humble: Fatal stamp to neck 'was not self-defence'

Danny Humble had enjoyed a night out in Cramlington with his girlfriend

A fatal stamp that killed a man in a group attack could not possibly have been struck in self-defence, a jury has heard.

Danny Humble, 35, died after being "swarmed" by youths in Cramlington, Northumberland, in May last year, Newcastle Crown Court has been told.

Five males aged 17 and 18 deny murder with some claiming self-defence.

In his closing argument, prosecutor Jacob Hallam QC told jurors they could be "sure" the stamp was murderous.

'Ant and Dec joke'

Mr Humble and his partner were on a night out when they encountered a group of fellow revellers at an underpass.

A 17-year-old defendant, who cannot be named, said he joked about Mr Humble looking like one of the TV presenters Ant and Dec, and although the couple took the "banter" in good humour, when they left the underpass Mr Humble pushed and then punched the youth.

The boy said he punched back with prosecutors claiming his friends then "overwhelmed" and "swarmed" Mr Humble with kicks, punches and stamps after knocking him to the ground.

Mr Hallam said jurors could be "absolutely sure" a stamp that left a trainer impression on Mr Humble's neck and tore a major artery causing extensive bleeding in the brain was the "killing blow" and that "self defence played no part at all".

The prosecutor said it could only have been struck with Mr Humble in a "vulnerable position" and the "stamper", "regardless of their age", could "not possibly have believed that that stamp was necessary to defend themselves or another".

'Vulnerable neck'

The court was told the attacker could at that point have stepped away but instead chose to stamp on "one of the most vulnerable parts of the human body".

Whoever delivered the fatal stamp must have intended it to cause at least really serious harm, which would be enough to convict them of murder, the jury heard.

Mr Hallam said experts had discounted six pairs of trainers worn by defendants leaving only one pair, those worn by 18-year-old Alistair Dickson, as the ones that matched the fatal wound.

He also said Mr Dickson, an Army cadet, had kicked another junior soldier in the head weeks earlier and was "plainly close enough" to Mr Humble to have stamped upon him.

That was not to say others did not kick or stamp upon Mr Humble, Mr Hallam said, but the evidence pointed towards Mr Dickson as the one who struck the fatal blow.

Those who "assisted or encouraged" the act were accessories and so all were culpable, the court heard

The trial of the 17-year-old, Mr Dickson, Bailey Wilson and Ethan Scott, all from Blyth, and Kyros Robinson, from Seaton Delaval continues.