DCI Banks star Stephen Tompkinson has broken his silence after being cleared of knocking a man out during a noise row.
The actor, 57, was previously accused of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Karl Poole.
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The allegations brought again Tompkinson came after Mr Poole suffered a traumatic brain injury while outside the celebrity’s home in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside.
A court previously heard how Mr Poole and a pal were laughing and “lying on the path” during the early hours of the morning when Tompkinson approached them and the alleged incident happened.
However, after a two-year battle, the Ballykissangel star was last week cleared of all charges at Newcastle Crown Court.
Speaking for this first time since he was acquitted, he told ITV’s Lorraine this morning, the whole process was a “little bit of a nightmare”.
He said: “I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong [but] it had to be answered.”
Realising the severity of Mr Poole’s injury, Tompkinson said it definitely “had to be investigated” but could have been done “a lot sooner”.
Recalling that evening back in May 2021, Tompkinson told the chat show host: “It was about half five on a sunny morning at the end of May, a beautiful day and these two chaps turned up, one just in his underpants and socks.
“His friend who was also very dishevelled, incredibly unsteady.
“They were the definition of drunk and disorderly – several other people in the street had heard the commotion.
“They were swigging from a full sized bottle of Jagermeister, which you don’t find next to the Sherry or Port.
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“They were in a heck of a state. It turns 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 there’s a seven-year-old in the house who plays with her skateboard and bike.
“They didn’t seem to be horrible in any way, they were just carrying on. We’ve all been drunk now and again.”
Tompkinson said after telling the men he was going to call the police “they turned a bit nasty and turned on me”.
He said: “I stopped one of them with my open palm from advancing any further.
“Because of the state he was in, he took a tumble and fell about eight feet away from me, smacked the back of his head and got a very serious brain injury.
“Not a joking matter, that had to be investigated.
“[But] I thought to myself it could have been investigated a lot sooner and dealt with there and then, rather than waiting two years.”
Originally from Stockton-on-Tees, Teesside, 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 TV series involving Tompkinson include Drop The Dead Donkey, Wild At Heart, Minder, New Tricks, Grafters and Ted And Alice.
In 1994 he won a British Comedy Award for best TV actor for his performance in Drop The Dead Donkey.
He was in DCI Banks for six years until the show was axed in 2016.
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