DCI Banks star Stephen Tompkinson speaks out after being cleared

Actor Stephen Tompkinson has revealed his partner’s parents were killed by a sexting lorry driver just six weeks after he was accused of punching a drunk man.

The DCI Banks star, 57, was cleared of causing grievous bodily harm to a man he confronted outside his house at Newcastle Crown Court last week. 

Tompkinson had been accused of punching Karl Poole in the head after finding him and a friend drinking at the bottom of his driveway in Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear, in the early hours of May 30, 2021. 

Mr Poole fell to the ground and broke his skull when his head hit the pavement but Tompkinson told jurors he had only pushed Mr Poole away in self-defence.

This morning Tompkinson spoke about his ordeal on ITV’s Lorraine, saying: ‘They were trying to prove a punch that never happened. There was no physical evidence on my hand or the guy’s face, he was just incredibly drunk and he fell.’

He also described his partner Jessica Johnson as a ‘shining light’ who looked after him during the investigation and trial – and revealed her parents were killed in a car crash by a lorry driver who was sexting on his phone in Durham. 

Lorry driver Ion Onut was jailed for more than eight years at Durham Crown Court in January 2022 after he ploughed into stationary traffic on the A1(M) and killed three people – David Daglish, Elaine Sullivan and Paul Mullen – in July 2021. It is believed that Mr Daglish and Ms Sullivan were Ms Johnson’s parents, but this is unconfirmed.

DCI Banks star Stephen Tompkinson spoke about his trial on ITV’s Lorraine this morning

Tompkinson in 2019 with his partner and Educating Rita co-star, Jessica Johnson

Stephen Tompkinson leaves Newcastle Crown Court on May 11 after he was found not guilty

The crash, which saw his lorry burst into flames and career a further 320ft along the road, came moments after he was looking at the adult dating site ‘S**g Today’.

How killer lorry driver later apologised from prison for deaths of three people in crash

A lorry driver ploughed into stationary traffic on a motorway and killed three people having looked at adult dating sites on his phone moments before.

Ion Onut’s cab burst into flames and careered 100 metres along the A1(M) at Bowburn in County Durham in horrific scenes which were captured on dash cam footage in July 2021.

He was jailed for eight years and 10 months at Durham Crown Court in January 2022 after admitting three counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

Couple David Daglish and Elaine Sullivan from Seaham, County Durham, and Paul Mullen from Washington, Tyne and Wear, died instantly.

The judge told the 41-year-old it would have been bad enough if he had fallen asleep, but Onut had been trawling the internet for sexual partners, and his last interaction on his mobile phone had come just seconds before impact.

Onut later agreed to be interviewed in prison as part of a BBC documentary titled Deadly Browsing: The Lorry Driver which aired in July 2022.

From jail, he wept and acknowledged he could have travelled several hundred yards while looking at his phone. Onut said: ‘The phone was a distraction, it was a really bad choice.’

Asked if he had a message for the bereaved families, he sighed and replied: ‘There’s a million things I could tell people. I want to apologise. I want to say I’m really sorry, because I feel really bad for what happened.’

Onut later agreed to be interviewed in prison as part of a BBC documentary titled Deadly Browsing: The Lorry Driver which aired in July 2022 – and he apologised to the bereaved families.

Today, Tompkinson credited actress Ms Johnson as inspiring him to get through the ordeal with her ‘incredible’ attitude after the crash.

‘Jess was amazing,’ he said. ‘And frankly, my problems went into a top hat six weeks later when Jess’s parents were sitting in stationary traffic in Durham.

‘A lorry driver behind them, who we then found out was sexting on his phone on an adult dating hook-up site, didn’t see the traffic, hadn’t stopped and ploughed into them at 56mph killing them instantly, and the driver of the car in front, and injured people in other vehicles.’

Tompkinson explained that the pair were performing Educating Rita at the time and because it had been ‘stopped a couple of times’ during Covid, Ms Johnson decided to continue performing.

‘She went into this incredible mode, I don’t know how she did it and a few weeks later attended the double funeral of her mum, stepdad and was then back on stage that night in Kingston-upon-Thames,’ he added.

‘So if you ever needed an example of strength and a shining light, she has been that throughout and looked after me through this.

‘I’ll never be able to thank her enough.’

Tompkinson said Ms Johnson had also helped him in the run-up to the tour of his new play Stumped, which sees him star as playwright Samuel Beckett.

The first performance will take place at Theatre Royal Bath next Tuesday.

Host Lorraine Kelly told him: ‘You’re back and you’ve put all of this behind you and I have to say you’re looking a lot better because I was a wee bit worried about you.’

To this, Tompkinson replied: ‘Yes, well I am eating again, which is good.’ 

Speaking about his court ordeal, Tompkinson said it ‘could’ve been investigated a lot sooner and dealt with there and then, rather than waiting two years’.

He said the case ‘had to be answered’ but he also questioned whether it was ‘worth’ bringing it.

When asked how long it took to throw out his case, he said: ‘Less than an hour. You have to wonder, was it worth bringing it in in the first place?’

Discussing the incident , Tompkinson said: ‘It was about five o’clock on a Sunday morning at the end of May, beautiful day and these two chaps turned up one just dressed in his underpants and socks and his friend who was also very dishevelled… they were the definition of drunk and disorderly. Several other people in the street had heard the commotion. 

Lorry driver Ion Onut (left) ploughed into queueing traffic on the A1(M) at Bowburn in County Durham in July 2021, killing three people including Paul Mullen (right)

David Daglish and Elaine Sullivan from Seaham, County Durham, were also killed by Onut. It is believed that Mr Daglish and Ms Sullivan are Jessica Johnson’s parents but this is unconfirmed

‘They were in a heck of a state, it turns out the chap was four times over the drink drive limit and so I called the police. I was worried this bottle [of alcohol] was going to break in the area where the seven-year-old in the house plays on the skateboard and on a bike.

‘They didn’t seem to be horrible in any way… so I just thought if I asked them to move on and show them that I called the police. But then they turned a bit nasty and turned on me.

‘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 in that direction, smacking the back of his head and got a very serious brain injury, which, no joking matter, that had to be investigated.’

The trial was told Mr Poole and his friend Andrew Hall had been drinking since midnight that bank holiday Sunday and had gone to the beach before passing Tompkinson’s home in Whitley Bay on the walk back.

Tompkinson, who was living with his partner and her seven-year-old son at the time, heard ‘strange noises’ at around 5.30am.

Karl Poole leaves Newcastle Crown Court on May 11, after Tompkinson was found not guilty

A court artist’s sketch of Stephen Tompkinson in the dock at Newcastle Crown Court on May 9

A photograph of Tompkinson released by prosecutors shortly after the actor’s arrest in 2021

Tompkinson has had a number of major television roles, including playing DCI Alan Banks

The 57-year-old called 999 after seeing the pair try to stand up and fall several times while drinking from a bottle of Jagermeister, jurors heard. 

While waiting to be connected, Tompkinson went outside wearing pyjamas and a dressing gown and told the ‘heavily intoxicated’ men who he was calling.

Neighbour Caroline Davidson, who was watching from her bedroom window, told the court she saw Tompkinson slap and punch Mr Poole, causing him to stumble and fall backwards, hitting his head on the ground.

Tompkinson said he could not have punched Mr Poole because he was holding his phone.

He told the court the two men ‘took great objection to me complaining about them being there’ and had started to move towards him.

He said he put his hand out to stop Mr Poole coming any further.

‘I didn’t want to hurt him, I wanted to stop him to change his mind about coming towards me and further on to my property,’ Tompkinson said.

Tompkinson told the court he had lost acting work since being charged and any association with him in the industry was ‘on hold’ while the legal proceedings were hanging over him.

On May 11, a jury found him not guilty of causing grievous bodily harm.