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Teenagers ‘murdered father after joking he looked like Ant or Dec’

Danny Humble - Family handout
Danny Humble - Family handout

A father was murdered as he walked home after a gang of seven teenagers joked with him that he looked like one of Ant and Dec, a court has heard.

Danny Humble, 35, was allegedly subjected to a "short and sustained" attack after he was surrounded by the group, then aged 16 to 18, near an underpass in Cramlington, Northumberland, last year.

He was left with a “catastrophic” head injury from which he could never recover, a trial at Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Mr Humble and his partner Adele Stubbs had enjoyed a meal and drinks out on May 28 last year and she later recalled they had drunk "a canny skinful".

The group of teenagers, two of whom cannot be identified due to their age, had also been out drinking in local pubs. They all deny murder.

Jacob Hallam QC, prosecuting, said a witness, not one of the defendants, would later tell police how he heard some of the group and Mr Humble "just having a little bit of crack on".

The witness recalled they told Mr Humble "that he looked like one of television's Ant and Dec" and how the 35-year-old replied words to the effect "Aye good one, lads".

'Can I have your autograph?'

The witness added that one of the group said: "Can I have your autograph? You're my inspiration."

Another defendant said: "Yeah, you do look like him."

Soon after, Ms Stubbs recalled her partner saying something like "What did you say?" and people moved towards him before he was hit with an uppercut, a group surrounded him, separating him from her, jurors were told.

When she got to him, he was unconscious and bleeding on the ground, Mr Hallam said.

The fatal attack took 15 seconds, the court heard.

The prosecutor said Mr Humble may have hit one of the 17-year-old defendants in the head before the youths surrounded him.

Ms Stubbs tried to perform first aid and dialled 999, trying "desperately but fruitlessly" to save her partner, the court heard.

Some of the defendants stayed around in the aftermath of the attack, jurors heard.

One of the 17-year-olds appeared to have been crying, a witness was to tell police.

Mr Hallam said all of them eventually ran away.

The defendants, who all deny murder, are: Ethan Scott, 18, of Chester Grove, Blyth; Alistair Dickson, 18, of Hawkins Way, Blyth; Izaak Little, 18, of Blackthorn Drive, Blyth; Kyros Robinson, 18, from Woodside Avenue, Seaton Delaval; Bailey Wilson, of Mitford Avenue, Blyth; and two 17-year-olds who cannot be identified by the media due to their age.

The trial continues