Stephen Tompkinson is ready to move on (Picture: ITV)
Stephen Tompkinson has given his first interview since he was found not guilty of grievous bodily harm.
On May 11, the DCI Banks star, 57, was found not guilty at Newcastle Crown Court of inflicting grievous bodily harm by punching a drunk man who was making noise outside his house.
He was accused of punching Karl Poole in the head after finding him and a friend drinking at the bottom of his driveway in the early hours of May 30, 2021.
Mr Poole fell to the ground and broke his skull when his head hit the pavement, Newcastle Crown Court was told.
Prosecutors claimed Tompkinson ‘snapped’ and ‘lashed out’ at Mr Poole in ‘disgust’ at his behaviour.
But Tompkinson told jurors he only pushed Mr Poole away in self-defence and the contact ‘wasn’t enough to knock a sober man off his feet’.
Last Thursday, a jury found him not guilty of causing grievous bodily harm after a five-day trial, with deliberations lasting for just under two hours.
Appearing on Lorraine on Friday morning (May 19) one week on, as the TV presenter described the ordeal as a ‘nightmare’ he admitted it ‘wasn’t’ for him.
‘I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong!’, he said.
He went on to describe the incident and how the man sustained his injuries, insisting they were ‘no joking matter’ and needed to be investigated.
‘These two chaps turned up, one just dressed in his underpants and socks and his friend, who was also very disheveled, incredibly unsteady, they were the definition of drunk and disorderly. Several other people in the street had heard the commotion,’ he began.
‘They were swigging from a full-size bottle of Jägermeister, which you don’t find next to the sherry or the port, mixed with Red Bull, so they were in a heck of a state.
‘It turned out the chap was four times over the drink-drive limit so I called the police, I was worried this bottle was going to break in the area where seven-year-olds play on the skateboard, so they didn’t seem to be horrible in any way, they were just carrying on. We’ve all been drunk now and again!
‘I just thought, if I asked them to move on and showed them I’d called the police, but then they turned a bit nasty, turned on me, and I stopped one of them with my open palm from advancing any further because of the state he was in.
‘He took a tumble, fell about eight feet away from me, smacking the back of his head, and got a very serious brain injury.’
Tompkinson added that one neighbour mistook the phone in his hand for a clenched fist, despite being ‘125 feet away’ and ‘on a first floor window.’
Because she saw him as the ‘aggressor’, he understood procedures needed to be followed.
‘I thought myself it could’ve been investigated a lot sooner and dealt with there and then, rather than waiting two years,’ he added.
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However, fortunately, Tompkinson is now in a much better place.
Now back to work, the actor agreed that he wants to put it all behind him and ‘get back to work’, preparing to take the stage in play Stumped before appearing in new drama The Long Shadow.
He was also complimented on ‘looking better’, saying he’s ‘eating again’ now.
Tompkinson understands though that the investigation was necessary.
‘It had to be answered,’ he said.
But, after deliberations lasted for such as short time, he said: ‘You have to wonder, was it worth bringing it in in the first place.
‘They were trying to prove a punch that never happened, there was no physical evidence on my hand or the guy’s face, he was just incredibly drunk and he fell.’
Lorraine airs weekdays at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
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‘I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong!’, he said.Â
