MURDER charges against four men were dropped yesterday.

At Teesside Crown Court, the prosecution accepted guilty pleas to lesser charges from brothers Christopher and Neil Dixon and brothers Stephen and Matthew Worthy, all from Hartlepool, who had been accused of killing a man in the town.

The trial of the four, who had been charged with the murder of pipefitter Phillip McGibbon last October, was due to begin yesterday.

But Neil Dixon, 24, of Saddleston Close, Hartlepool, admitted the manslaughter of Mr McGibbon.

The three other men, Christopher Dixon, 22, of Everett Street, Stephen Worthy, 23, of Tennyson Avenue and Matthew Worthy, 21, of Church Street, admitted lesser charges.

The Worthy brothers both admitted violent disorder and Christopher Dixon pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice by seeking to arrange false alibis and washing clothes.

Roger Thorn, prosecuting, said that the charges arose from a fight in Hartlepool's Church Street area at about midnight on October 6.

Mr McGibbon, 25, of Linnett Road, Hartlepool, had been in the town with his parents, girlfriend and his brother when he became embroiled in a fight in which he suffered a punch to the head, rupturing his cerebral artery.

Mr Thorn said it was the Crown's case that the punch had been delivered by Neil Dixon.

He said that pathological evidence showed it was likely that the punch killed Mr McGibbon almost instantly, and he was dying as he fell to the ground.

He said there was no clear evidence that Christopher Dixon had been physically involved in the violence.

Judge Esmond Faulks adjourned the case for the preparation of pre-sentence reports on the men.

Sentencing will take place at Newcastle Crown Court on June 26. All four were granted conditional bail.