TV detective Stephen Tompkinson to face court today after ‘battering dad and leaving him with fractured skull’
ACTOR Stephen Tompkinson will appear in court today accused of battering a dad so badly he was left with a double skull fracture.
The 56-year-old, best known for starring as Inspector Alan Banks in ITV crime series DCI Banks, is charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm.
The late-night bust-up is alleged to have happened outside the house where the Ballykissangel star was living at the time.
His victim is said to have been so seriously hurt he was unable to work.
Tompkinson, who lives in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, appeared at a hearing before magistrates in the city last month, when he denied the offence, the Crown Prosecution Service said.
He is due at Newcastle Crown Court later today.
READ MORE ON SHOWBIZ
Tompkinson became a household name after starring as Father Peter Clifford in 1996’s Ballykissangel.
In the same year, he appeared as Phil in hit film Brassed Off.
Other notable TV credits include Drop The Dead Donkey, Wild At Heart, Minder, New Tricks, Grafters and Ted And Alice.
He was in DCI Banks for six years until the show was axed in 2016.
Later this year, Tompkinson, who recently starred as Frank Bryant in a stage adaptation of Educating Rita, is due to feature in ITV drama The Long Shadow about Yorkshire ripper Peter Sutcliffe.