Assaulting someone would be 'career suicide'

TV star Tompkinson in the dock

- JEREMY ARMSTRONG

ACTOR Stephen Tompkinson gave evidence for the first time in his assault trial, and denied hitting a drunken man in the street, saying: “There is no evidence of a punch.” 

The 57-year-old star denies causing grievous bodily harm to Karl Poole, 48, and told the jury: “It would have been career suicide to do something as outrageous as an assault.”

Tompkinson was arrested on May 30, 2021, the day he allegedly punched Poole in a 5.30am altercation outside the actor’s home.

The jury heard Tompkinson had come out of his house in pyjama bottoms and a dressing gown to find Poole and his friend Andrew Hall “falling about drunk” in front of his drive in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside.