Row before father beaten to death

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A murder trial witness has told of an argument which raged for about "15 minutes" before a father-of-three was fatally attacked.

The sister of one of the teenage boys accused of the murder of Garry Newlove, 47, told Chester Crown Court the victim was kicked while he was on the floor.

Mr Newlove was attacked when he went to confront a gang vandalising vehicles near his home in Fearnhead, Warrington.

Four boys and Adam Swellings, 19, deny murder, at Chester Crown Court.

The jury were played two videos of recorded police interviews with the girl.

'Nasty mood'

In one interview the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: "A man came out and argued. He came out from his house. When he came out they were, like, arguing.

"Then it got in a bit of a nasty mood. They started punching him."

She said one of the 17-year-old defendants punched him and then, when Mr Newlove was on the floor, "kicked him quite hard in the side".

But she insisted she had not seen her brother hit the man.

Mr Newlove suffered serious head injuries after the attack on August 10 and never regained consciousness, dying in Warrington Hospital two days later.

The boys - two aged 17, a 16-year-old and a 15-year-old, none of whom can be named for legal reasons - deny murder.

Adam Swellings, of Crewe, Cheshire, denies murder but has admitted manslaughter.