THE gang culture in a community blighted by tragedy was in the spotlight in court again as a teenager was locked up for his part in a savage attack.

Branton March was with two other thugs - both behind bars for killing Shane Tunney - when they launched a chillingly similar assault on a passing couple.

The Northern Echo:

Branton March

It happened just months before Mr Tunney, 24, was murdered and just yards away from the scene in Norton, near Stockton, a court was told yesterday.

March, Brandon Pitt, 18, and a 15-year-old boy subjected the innocent man and his partner to a barrage of vile verbal abuse on March's 17th birthday.

The victim said when he shouted back, he was punched, kicked and stamped on by the violent gang, who he said treated him "like a bouncy castle".

Months later, Pitt and the younger lout took part in assaulting friends Mr Tunney and Anthony Kirk after they objected to being pelted with rotten food.

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

Pitt, 18, and the other boy, who is now 17, were convicted and locked up for manslaughter along with three others. Two more were jailed for murder.

On February 10 last year, March was in a group which taunted the couple with sexual comments and “grotesque suggestions” to the woman, said prosecutor Harry Hadfield.

March was the “main man” delivering blows to the face and striking him on the ground while the youngest boy, who cannot be named, ran about exposing himself.

The man - who has since moved from Norton to feel safer - suffered bruising, swelling and a footwear mark to the face, but no permanent injury.

March, of Leven Road, Norton, initially denied involvement and claimed witnesses were mistaken when they identified him, but later admitted attempting to cause grievous bodily harm.

Judge Tony Briggs told him: “It is perfectly plain that you were part of a group that from time to time in the Norton area annoyed and then attacked others when they remonstrated.

“That sort of behaviour no community can tolerate. As matters have turned out, it has led to certain tragedy in the other case in which you weren’t involved.”

The judge sent him to detention for 15 months, which will be served once he has completed two years he is already serving for affray and weapon offences.

Nigel Soppitt, Mitigating, said: “He was out with his friends. He’s just turned 17. He accepts his behaviour was unacceptable and wholly loutish.

"He wishes he’d simply walked away. He accepts that he’s caused the injuries. It was thanks to good luck rather than management that they’re not more enduring."