Actor Stephen Tompkinson has been found not guilty of grievous bodily harm at Newcastle Crown Court. The 57-year-old star of DCI Banks, Brassed Off and Ballykissangel was accused of punching Karl Poole in the head outside Tompkinson’s Whitley Bay house in May 2021. Mr Poole and his friend Andrew Hall had been drinking since midnight that Bank Holiday Sunday and stopped outside Mr Tompkinson’s house on the way back home. The jury returned the verdict today after a six-day trial.