A MAN has appeared in court charged with the manslaughter of a grandfather who was fatally shot while standing in the street.

Christopher Kay, from Carlin How, east Cleveland, died following a reported incident on Brotton Road on Friday afternoon at around 5pm.

The 58-year-old was taken to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough where he later died.

This morning, Jamie Hellings made a brief appearance at Teesside Magistrates’ Court in connection with the alleged shooting.

The 32-year-old, of Coronation Road, Loftus, did not enter a plea when the charge was read to him but his legal representative, John Nixon, said his client would enter a guilty plea pending legal advice from counsel.

No bail application was made and Hellings was remanded in custody to appear before Teesside Crown Court on September 21.

The defendant, who was wearing a grey t-shirt when he appeared in court via videolink, spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth.

Mr Kay’s family paid tribute to the loving grandfather over the weekend. They said: “We are currently working on coming to terms with the fact that a member of our family has been taken away from us.

“We would like to convey our thanks to the members of the public who tried to help, the emergency services who worked tirelessly to prevent the situation we now find ourselves in, as well as the specialist officers from Cleveland Police who are helping us come to terms with what has happened.

“We would ask that anyone who has any information, however small or trivial to contact the officers who are dealing with the investigation as soon as possible.

“Our children and grandchildren are now missing their father and grandfather, and someone must have information which will help the investigation and allow us to move forward.”

A further two men, aged 31 and 35, and a woman, aged 32, were also arrested in connection with the alleged incident.

The men have been released with bail conditions pending further enquiries and the woman has been released with no further action.

Cleveland Police is continuing to appeal for anyone with any information regarding the reported incident or anyone with private CCTV/ dashcam footage from the time/area of the incident to contact Cleveland Police on 101 quoting 136570.

Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800-555111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org