THE daughter of a man who died after he was attacked in a late-night street assault still believes her father is coming home, her distraught family have said.

A jury convicted Paul Sutton of manslaughter on Tuesday after office worker Mark Dixon died following the incident.

Sutton will be sentenced after experts investigate whether he poses a significant risk to the public.

The 29-year-old claimed he was acting in self-defence when Mr Dixon approached him outside a Hartlepool pub.

Mr Dixon, 32, was simply remonstrating about a derogatory remark he had made about his female work colleague.

Without warning, the demolition worker punched Mr Dixon and felled him, Teesside Crown Court heard during a trial.

The father-of-one, from Peterlee, County Durham, cracked his head on the pavement and died six days later.

After the jury rejected Sutton's claim, the victim's family hit out at him trying to evade justice.

And they told how Mr Dixon's six-year-old daughter, Ella, still believes he will walk through the door.

In a statement, read by his widow's father, Frank Wright, grieving Loraine Dixon told of their devastation.

She said: "Mark was a devoted husband, son, brother, cousin, nephew, grandson and friend to many, but more importantly he was daddy to Ella.

"Mark wasn't just her daddy, he was Ella's best friend. They were so close, they did everything together, and Mark devoted all his time to her.

"Since Mark passed away, Ella has been inconsolable. She still believes her daddy is coming back. I have to remind her every day when she wakes that he isn't."

The statement added: "We have been unable to grieve properly due to the trial process. Knowing the person responsible has been living his life while we are without Mark, and then having to sit and listen to Mark being described as the instigator of the incident which led to his death is too hard to put into words.

"We can now tell Ella in time that the person responsible for her not having a daddy has been brought to justice.

"Nothing will take the pain away from losing Mark, but it is comforting to know that justice has been served."

Sutton, of Raby Gardens, Hartlepool, was remanded in custody after the verdict - which was greeted with cheers and tears from the public gallery.

The court heard during a week-long trial that he had trained as a boxer as a teenager and has a history of violence.

He was cautioned for assault in 2006 after he hit a man at Butlins in a row over queue-jumping, and two years later he was convicted of assaulting a doorman.

Mrs Justice Laing said if she would be failing in her public duty if she did not have a report addressing dangerousness before he was sentenced.

John Elvidge, QC, defending, said the incidents were some time ago, and added: "There has been no other behaviour in the intervening years which has brought him to the attention of the police."