A teenager accused of beating to death a disabled man in the street has made his first appearance at crown court.
The 17-year-old suspect in the Stephen Humphries murder case appeared via video-link from Castington Young Offenders' Institution, in Northumberland, yesterday.
No application for bail was made during the brief hearing at Teesside Crown Court and the teenager was remanded back into custody by the Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox, QC.
Judge Fox also made an order which prevents the media identifying the youth because of his age.
The teenager spoke only to confirm his name during yesterday's ten-minute hearing.
Judge Fox ordered the case to return to court on December 8, when the teenager, who is from Darlington, is expected to enter a plea.
The badly-beaten body of 53-year-old Mr Humphries was found in an alleyway behind the Nag's Head pub, in Darlington, on October 6.
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