Brit TV legend Stephen Tompkinson ‘battered dad so badly he was left with a double skull fracture’

TV detective Stephen Tompkinson allegedly battered a dad so badly he was left with a double skull fracture.

The DCI Banks star, 56, is facing a crown court trial accused of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

He was charged following a late-night bust-up, said to have happened outside a house where he was living in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside.

Tompkinson, who denies the charge, has also appeared in TV’s Wild at Heart and Ballykissangel, and the hit movie Brassed Off.

Telly favourite Stephen faces a GBH charge carrying a maximum five-year jail sentence if he is convicted.

The alleged victim is said to have been left with a double skull fracture and unable to work.

Prosecutors claim Tompkinson “unlawfully and maliciously inflicted grievous bodily harm”.

Tompkinson appeared before North Tyneside magistrates’ court earlier this month where he pleaded not guilty.

The charge is so serious it had to be sent to crown court for trial by jury.

It followed a late-night bust-up said to have happened in May last year outside the house where the star was living in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside.

It is understood that the alleged victim can recall little of the incident.

Tompkinson has appeared in a string of telly hits including the lead role in ITV cop series DCI Banks, which ran for five seasons from 2010 to 2016.

He first hit stardom as a rogue reporter in classic comedy Drop The Dead Donkey in the early 1990s. He won the 1994 British Comedy Award for best TV actor for the show.

He became a household name as Father Peter Clifford in Ballykissangel in 1996 — the same year he helped turn Brassed Off into a cinema smash.

'Bodily harm'

He has appeared in a host of other popular shows including Wild at Heart, The Manageress, Minder, Boon, New Tricks, Grafters and Ted and Alice.

Tompkinson is due to star in ITV drama The Long Shadow, about Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, later this year.

When asked to comment on the court case at his seafront flat in Tynemouth, North Tyneside, he said: “No thank you.”

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed the actor appeared before magistrates on Wednesday, August 10 to face “a single charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm”.

He added: “He pleaded not guilty and will next appear at Newcastle crown court on Wednesday, September 7.”

Tompkinson, originally from Stockton-on-Tees, Teesside, has recently been starring as Frank Bryant in a stage adaptation of Educating Rita, opposite his real-life partner Jess Johnson, 41.

The play launched in 2019 but paused due to the pandemic.

The twice-divorced star was previously married to radio producer Celia Anastasia and publicist Nicci Taylor.