A RELATIVE of two cousins who are behind bars for killing Shane Tunney has been jailed for trying to intimidate a key prosecution witness in the case.

Dwayne Davis, 19, pleaded guilty to making a threat on March 17 – less than a month before the the murder trial was die to start at Teesside Crown Court.

Davis is the brother of Kearan Terry Davis, who was sentenced to custody for life along with his cousin Kieran Harry Davis earlier this month.

The 18-year-olds were both convicted of the murder of Mr Tunney, who was attacked by a violent mob on Norton High Street on June 27 last year.

Prosecutor Paul Rooney said the witness – who had been relocated for her own protection before the trial – was "terrified" to learn of the threat.

Mr Rooney said Dwayne Davis, of Leven Road, Stockton, uttered the remark to a relative of a young woman who had made a statement to Cleveland Police.

Mr Tunney and his friend Anthony Kirk were assaulted after they objected to youths pelting them with rotten food from a Tesco shop roof as they used a cashpoint machine.

Mr Tunney, 24, suffered a severe head injury with brain damage, swelling and bleeding, and died in hospital just over a month later.

Kearan Terry Davis must serve a minimum of 15 years in custody, Kieran Harry Davis a minimum of 13 years, before they can be considered for release.

Five others – Jake Douglas, Brandon Pitt and Daniel Hunt, all aged 18, and a 17-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons – were cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter.

They were sent to detention for periods between three years and nine months and seven years.

The seven were also convicted and sentenced for assaulting Mr Kirk.

Nigel Soppitt, for Dwayne Davis, said the witness was not deterred from giving evidence, and it did not directly any of the cousins.

He said the teenager had acted "incredibly thoughtlessly" and his words were "an outburst in the midst of a conversation".

Mr Soppitt said Davis - jailed for ten months by Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, QC - has regretted it ever since.

"Norton, at that point, was a very pressurised area," he added. "It had been a horrific event. Virtually everybody in the area had some connection in some way, shape or form."