Four charged over 'pub attack' death

Mr Pharoah was attending a pub function

Four Gateshead men have been charged in connection with the death of Kevin Pharoah, who died almost two years after being injured in a local pub.

Police launched an inquiry after Mr Pharoah died from an epileptic fit in his sleep - 21 months after a disturbance in the Fret and Fiddler Pub, in Sunniside, Gateshead, on 22 January 2000.

His death was the first to be investigated by Northumbria Police since the scrapping of the "year and a day law" in 1996.

Before the law was changed, someone could not be charged over another's death if more than a year and a day elapsed between an incident and a subsequent death.

Mr Pharoah had three daughters

One man has now been charged with assault and three others with violent disorder.

The four men will appear before Gateshead Magistrates on 17 May.

Northumbria Police said it had consulted medical experts before deciding on the charges.

Mr Pharoah was found slumped in the pub, known locally as The Travellers Rest, during an 18th birthday party.

Northumbria Police said the father-of-three developed epilepsy after the incident, which forced him to stop working.

Detective Superintendent Ian Sharp, leading the inquiry into Mr Pharoah's death, had appealed for the public's help last October.

Former postman Mr Pharoah was separated from his wife and had three daughters.

He was found dead in bed at his home in Rickgarth, Leam Lane Estate, Gateshead, on 2 October 2001.