A MAN who inflicted a savage beating on his childhood friend with a baseball bat has been found guilty of murder.

Nicholas Rought has this morning been convicted of the murder of 46-year-old John Hall at a house in Shiney Row. His body was then dumped in a country lane at West Rainton, near Durham City.

Fellow defendant Stuart Smith was acquitted of murder, but convicted of manslaughter at Newcastle Crown Court.

Rought, 45, of Princess Street, Shiney Row, and Smith, 42, of no fixed abode but originally from Shotley Bridge, in County Durham, will return to court tomorrow to be sentenced.