THE family of a North-East teenager who died ten months after being punched has launched a fresh bid to prove the attack caused his death.

Solicitors instructed by the family of Kristian Thompson have asked the Attorney General's Office to order a new inquest.

In 2012, a coroner at the original inquest recorded an open verdict, ruling that the it was not possible to link the assault with the 19-year-old's death.

But the teenager's family believe he was unlawfully killed and hope that a new inquest which recorded this verdict would allow further charges to be brought.

Mr Thompson, of Burnopfield, County Durham, fell into a coma after he was assaulted in the K2 nightclub, in Consett on September 4, 2010.

Although he regained consciousness he never fully recovered and died in July 2011 in a specialist unit in Northampton.

CCTV footage of the attack showed Mr Thompson was hit once in the head and struck his head when he fell to the ground in the club's toilets.

Mark Berry, of Leadgate, near Consett, subsequently admitted causing grievous bodily harm and was sentenced to 28 months in custody.

Mr Thompson's mother Maxine, 49, said she knew it will not bring her son back, but she still wanted to see justice done.

She said: “I don’t know anything about the law or previous cases. I just know deep down that I have to carry on fighting to get justice. I want answers to why my son died.

“I think he had a massive epileptic fit in the shower and it’s proving that. The post mortem says that if you take anything else away it said that Kristian died because of a brain injury.”

A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office said: “The Attorney General’s Office has been asked to consider whether permission for a new inquest should be granted to the family of Kristian Thompson.

"We have received representations from the family and the coroner, and the Law Officers will consider these representations before deciding whether or not to ask the High Court to look again at the evidence.”

In 2010 The Northern Echo launched its Price of a Punch campaign, calling for tougher sentences for people who take lives with a single act of violence.