A PENSIONER who died ten days after falling during a brawl at a workingmen's club was unlawfully killed, a coroner ruled yesterday.

John George Lacy, 65, a former landlord at Darlington's Globe pub, was assaulted when he intervened in a fight at the town's Haughton-le-Skerne Workingmen's Club, the inquest heard.

Mr Lacy suffered a fractured skull and died of a brain haemorrhage, north Durham coroner Andrew Tweddle ruled.

Detective Inspector Neil Redhead, who led the investigation, told a hearing at Chester-le-Street, County Durham, yesterday that trouble had broken out in the club when a man attending a christening party snatched the microphone off a singer at a separate cabaret act, on May 4 last year.

He said: "Several committee members approached him and a disturbance took place, during which they all fell from the stage on to the floor."

When the struggle escalated, Mr Lacy went to try to help. He was found lying on the floor, although it was not known exactly what had happened.

Det Insp Redhead said: "Some people described him being punched or hit with a chair, causing him to fall to the ground. Therefore his fall to the ground was not an accident, but as a result of being assaulted."

He said extensive inquiries failed to reveal who had been responsible for the assault.

But three people were sentenced to 21 months in jail after admitting affray, at Teesside Crown Court, in August.

The inquest was told that Mr Lacy was admitted to Darlington Memorial Hospital. A scan was carried out after he fell several days after being admitted, revealing his head injury. He was transferred to the James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, where a second scan determined that nothing further could be done.

Home Office pathologist Peter Cooper said a post-mortem examination revealed that Mr Lacy died of a brain haemorrhage, following a fracture to the back of his head. This was caused by a forceful blunt impact, consistent with falling against a hard surface.

There was no evidence the second fall in the hospital had contributed to his death, he said.