The jury has retired to consider its verdict in the murder trial of two men accused of beating a father-of one to death during a drink and drug fuelled row.

Lee Hogg and Terry Dalton deny they caused Carlos Boyce’s fatal injuries maintaining they left the flat where he was killed when he started fighting with his friend Joseph Spencer.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Mr Boyce suffered multiple head and facial injuries and was left to die inside a flat on Homerton Road, Middlesbrough, in the early hours of November 11 last year.

The pair are alleged to have attacked Mr Boyce following a row about smoking crack cocaine inside Mr Spencer’s flat.

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The Northern Echo: Carlos BoyceCarlos Boyce (Image: Cleveland Police)

Nick Dry, prosecuting, said Hogg and Dalton violently attacked the 36-year-old before turning their attention to Mr Spencer when he tried to intervene.

Jurors heard how Mr Boyce was punched, kicked and stamped on, while Mr Spencer was knocked unconscious for several hours when he was battered about the head with a vodka bottle.

The Northern Echo: Homerton Road, OrmesbyHomerton Road, Ormesby

Giving evidence, Hogg told jurors that he left the flat when Mr Boyce and Mr Spencer started fighting and was not there when the fatal injuries were inflicted.

While Dalton said that Mr Spencer and Mr Boyce started fighting before Hogg and himself tried to split them up.

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Dalton said the pair started fighting for a second time and this time they were armed.

Hogg, 38, of Lindisfarne Road, Ormesby, Middlesbrough, and 53-year-old Dalton, of Ellerbeck Way, Ormesby, both deny murder and causing grievous bodily harm.

The trial continues.