A psychiatric evaluation is awaited on a suspected killer's fitness to plead, as he stands accused of the knifepoint murder of a man days before Christmas.
Andrew Peacock was arrested at the scene of the death of Lee Santos at a property in Cullercoats, North Tyneside, on Friday December 23.
Emergency services were called to the address in John Street, where Mr Santos was found with stab wounds, at about 4.30pm.
Police attended and found Mr Santos, from Killingworth, also North Tyneside, suffering from what was described as, “injuries consistent with having been caused by a bladed article.”
Read more: Tribute to Lee Santos, from Killingworth, who died in Cullercoats
Despite the efforts of police and paramedics, the 45-year-old father and grandfather was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mr Peacock, 43, of John Street, was subsequently charged with Mr Santos’s murder and he appeared before Newcastle magistrates who sent the case to the city’s crown court.
The defendant has not been brought before the crown court for either of two hearings in the case, do far, the latest today (Monday January 23).
A provisional trial date has been agreed, starting on June 26, with a timetable set for submission of the prosecution case, by February 14, and the delivery of a detailed defence statement, by four weeks later (March 14).
Read next:
Cullercoats murder: Provisional trial date set for alleged killer
Cullercoats murder: Andrew Peacock appears at Newcastle Magistrates
Man charged with Cullercoats murder to appear in court on Boxing Day
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Today’s hearing was told a psychiatric report on the defendant’s considered fitness to plead should be submitted to the court in early March, with a hearing to discuss its outcome now set for April 6, just prior to the Easter weekend.
Judge Paul Sloan agreed to those dates and said there should be a “mention” in the case on February 6.
He said that hearing could also be staged in the absence of the defendant, who remains on remand in custody.
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