Shane Tunney 'kicked to death' after asking teenagers to stop throwing food at people

A man was beaten to death in the street after asking a gang of teenagers to stop throwing food at passers-by, a court has heard. Shane Tunney was allegedly beaten to death in the High Street in Norton, Stockton-on-Tees, after he and a friend challenged the group in the early hours of 27 June 2015.

Prosecutors during the trial held at Teesside Crown Court are accusing seven 16-18-year-olds of murder claiming that they punched, kicked and stamped on Tunney and his friend Anthony Kirk. Kirk was struck by a metal bar, but survived the assault claim the crown.

Shane, 24, died six weeks later on 29 July in hospital after never regaining consciousness following the attack, a jury was told. Brandon Pitt, Kieron Harry Davis, Kearen Terry Davis and Jake Douglas, all 18, deny the murder along with two 17-year-old boys and one 16-year-old boy who cannot be named due to legal reasons.

According to prosecutors, Tunney and Kirk asked the gang of teenagers, who were sitting on the roof of a Tesco supermarket, to stop throwing food at people using a cashpoint. In a "fast-moving and violent" incident the gang of, all from Stockton, boasted that they were from the town's Blue Hall estate.

For the crown, Andrew Stubbs, QC, said the pair had the "misfortune" of crossing paths with the gang in the early hours of the morning. He said according to the Mirror: "They had decided their entertainment in the early hours of the morning was going to be throwing food waste from the roof of the shop onto people who were using the cash machine below.

"Mr Tunney and Mr Kirk took exception to this understandably and Shane made what looks to be a fairly half-hearted attempt to climb up onto the roof and scare whoever was throwing food away."

Stubbs added that the pair were knocked to the ground, before someone rifled through their pockets and stole Shane's iPhone. He added: "A witness saw Shane being attacked near the taxi. he was thrown to the floor and repeatedly kicked – like they were kicking footballs at a goal – and she saw one of them lift up his leg and stamp down on Shane's head before walking away to the others like it was a job well done."

The trial continues.