Five teenagers have been found guilty of killing a beloved dad when cruel banter over his resemblance to Ant and Dec turned violent and ended up in his brutal death. Danny Humble had been enjoying his first night out since Covid-19 restrictions eased and was walking home with his partner, Adele Stubbs, when they encountered a group of teenagers near an underpass.
A remark by one of them about how Mr Humble looked like Ant McPartlin was delivered and received in good humour and it was not the first time he'd heard it. However, the atmosphere suddenly changed and within seconds Mr Humble was lying dying on the ground, having been punched, kicked and had his neck stamped on.
Now soldier Alistair Dickson, 18, of Hawkins Way, Blyth, has been found guilty of his murder while Ethan Scott, 18, of Chester Grove, Blyth, Kyros Robinson, 18, of Woodside Avenue, Seaton Delaval, Bailey Wilson, 18, of Mitford Avenue, Blyth and a man, 17, were cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter after a trial at Newcastle Crown Court.
Mr Justice Bennathan said that he will sentence them in September after pre-sentence reports are compiled, Chronicle Live reports.
The judge said: "I'm going to remand these young men into custody given they face significant periods of loss of liberty." He then thanked the jury for their work in what are "obviously grim matters".
The attack happened when the couple encountered some youths as they walked home in Cramlington, Northumberland, last May. After an exchange, it was said that Mr Humble struck a 17-year-old. He was then surrounded and attacked in a group attack lasting around 15 seconds which left him unconscious and fatally injured.
The court heard Mr Humble and Miss Stubbs had visited a number of venues that night, including a restaurant called the Mandarin Bay and pubs, including the Blagdon Arms. Prosecutor Miss Stubbs told the police that they had had a really good night out, drinking, dancing and singing.
In a video-recorded interview, Miss Stubbs said they were on a "date night" and they had been out for a few drinks and a meal. She said she can't remember leaving the pub or getting to the underpass and wasn't sure if Mr Humble had said "what did you just say" to the teenagers they encountered.
She said she remembers someone delivering an uppercut from the left and added: "It went from zero to 100 just like that. I was screaming 'get off him, get off him.' I said 'get off him, leave him, he's hurt.'
Miss Stubbs fought back tears as she described seeing her partner lying on the ground. She said: "He was out. There was blood trickling from his mouth.. Instinct kicked in and I knew something was really wrong and I started CPR. I couldn't look at his face because I knew. I was shouting 'what the F have you done to him.' He wasn't breathing."
She added: "I'm a nurse. Something kicked in that something was seriously wrong. Then I heard sirens and felt relieved someone was coming to help."
It was as they headed home and walked through an underpass beneath the B1326 that Mr Humble was killed. Prosecutor Jacob Hallam QC said: "By chance, their path crossed with that of the defendants. After an exchange, which may have included Mr Humble hitting one of the defendants to the head, the defendants surrounded and attacked him.
"The attack was short and sustained. It left Mr Humble unconscious with a catastrophic injury to his head, from which he did not recover."
The court heard one witness heard some of the group, who had also been drinking in Cramlington that night, 'just having a little bit of crack on' saying to Mr Humble that he looked like one of TV duo Ant and Dec. The witness remembered hearing Mr Humble laughing, saying, 'Aye good one, lads' and one of the group saying, 'Can I have your autograph? You’re my inspiration.'
The prosecutor said Miss Stubbs recalled walking in the underpass and that inside it a group came from their left and then around them and then a confrontation began. Mr Hallam said: "Adele Stubbs said that she could remember Mr Humble exclaiming something like 'What did you say?' and then being moved to his right as people came at him from the left. She remembered seeing an uppercut being delivered from Mr Humble’s left.
"She thought that the attack had begun near the end of the underpass but moved onto the grass verge beyond its northern end. She remembered a group around him, separating him from her. When she got to her partner, he was unconscious and bleeding on the ground."
Jurors were told one witness heard a thump and the sound of people fighting and punches landing. "He described turning around in time to see Mr Humble surrounded by a group of attackers, being punched, and then falling to floor," Mr Hallam said.
"Once Mr Humble was on the floor, the witness, from his point of view, saw the group, which he believed to contain eight people, all starting to kick. He heard the noise of the defendants’ kicks striking home. 'They were,' he said, 'straight on him, kicking him, kicking the s*** out of him. All of them were no more than an arm’s length from each other" He said the group 'started to boot the s*** out of him, from all angles'. He took, he said, 'a right battering.'"
Another witness said he heard the sound of hitting and punching noises, and the shouting of Miss Stubbs and the defendants. He saw the Mr Humble fall backwards to the floor from a standing position. Mr Hallam said: "He saw Mr Humble being kicked and punched. Once he was on the floor, the group continued to kick him. They were, he said, trying to hit him every which way. He said each member of the group was kicking their fallen victim many times."
Another witness said it appeared that every member of the group was kicking him, and he was being kicked “all over”. And another witness said the group were punching Mr Humble, who tried to protect himself by putting his arms up to his face, but after a few seconds he fell to the ground. Mr Hallam said: "At that point the group started to kick him and stamp on him." He said the kicking and stamping was 'wherever they could: legs, face, neck, stomach and chest'.
A further witness said that after a number of punches were thrown by all but the smallest member of the group, and he saw the deceased fall to the ground on his side. Mr Hallam said: "When he did so, the group began to kick him all over his body. He said it seemed as though 'they didn’t miss a part of his body…. they were all moving around his body kicking him.' He recalled seeing each of the attackers kick Mr Humble in the head and he estimated that the number of kicks he could see were "at least 30 or 40 in number".
"Horrified" Miss Stubbs shouted at the attackers to stop and they did. Mr Hallam said: "Once the attack had stopped it appears that the defendants acted in a variety of ways. Some of them appear to have become emotional and attempted to justify themselves. Some appear to have stayed at the scene for a while. In the event, every single one of them ran away, leaving the sobbing Adele Stubbs trying desperately but fruitlessly to save the life of her partner."
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
