A TEENAGER who killed a young business tycoon during a row over a chip is facing years behind bars.

Michael Kennedy, 19, felled company director Dean Windle "like a piece of wood" with a single punch after a night out in Newcastle city centre last November.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how Mr Windle, 26, a Newcastle University graduate who had "the world at his feet", had been out celebrating a birthday with three pals.

As they made their way to central station for a taxi the good spirited bunch started playfully throwing chips at each other.

But trouble flared when one of them hit Kennedy's girlfriend, despite Mr Windle and his pals saying sorry.

Prosecutor Michael Hodson told the court: "They were having fun and being a little boisterous, throwing chips at each other, not anyone else.

"One of the chips hit the girlfriend with whom this defendant was in company.

"The defendant said 'you've just hit my lass with a f****** chip."

The court heard how one of Dean's pals initially went over to apologise to Kennedy, while the girlfriend also prompted Kennedy to 'leave it'.

But the court heard how Kennedy, who had broken man's jaw in a city centre attack just six weeks earlier, would not be pacified.

Mr Hodson said: "The defendant was saying 'I will take you all, one by one'.

"Dean Windle walked over and he too offered his hand and said 'sorry mate'. The next thing he was on the ground."

The court heard how Kennedy fled the scene and Dean, who hit his head on railings as he fell, was taken to hospital.

He died from multiple head injuries.

Mr Hodson added: "Dean Windle was 26 when he died.

"He died, the Crown say, as a result of a totally unprovoked and unnecessary punch."

After his death Dean's grandmother Margaret Windle said: "He was a lovely young man with the world at his feet."

Dean was a computer games designer and a director of both Dean Windle consultants Ltd and Paul Windle Design Ltd, a Jesmond based creative art studio with global giants like Walt Disney, Warner Bros and Miramax as clients.

The company was founded by his father Paul Windle, an internationally renowned artist and designer who died aged just 43.

Kennedy, of Felling, Gateshead, denied manslaughter throughout the four day trial.

He claimed he lashed out because Dean and his group had been aggressive and he feared he was about to be attacked.

But jurors took just half-an-hour to reject his story and find him guilty.

Kennedy, who broke down in the dock as the guilty verdict was read, had been on bail throughout the trial but was remanded in custody.

Judge John Milford ordered a pre-sentence report to assess the danger Kennedy posed to the public.

He will learn his fate on June 15.