POLICE last night demanded an end to the violent feuding which ultimately claimed the life of John Paul Robertson.

Riot vans and large numbers of uniformed officers have been called upon too often to keep the peace in Darlington, amid simmering tension between townies and travellers.

Their hatred of each other stretches back years and has seen clashes across the town, often involving the use of weapons and leading to serious injury and death.

Now police are calling for the trouble to stop - before more families are devastated by the loss of a loved one.

Detective Superintendent David Jones, who led the investigation into Mr Robertson's death, told of the effect on his grieving family.

"They have obviously been very upset throughout this. The family is devastated by these events," he said.

Of the ongoing dispute between rival gangs, he said: "We believe that has been the background to this.

"No one is quite sure how it developed, but the tragedy here is that two family men came together and this disturbance took place.

"In the past, there's definitely been a disturbance between two rival factions - members of the travelling fraternity and the townies - but please, let's have some more sense here.

"What's resulted is the devastation of two families and especially Mr Robertson's."

In a plea to those who have sparked ugly scenes before, he urged calm in the wake of yesterday's court hearing.

"Be sensible in how you react to this and don't let's have any more incidents of this kind," he said. "It has to stop. We have seen today what the outcome can be."

However, police warned that they would be on hand to deal with future clashes, should their warnings not be heeded.

Det Supt Jones said: "There has been a history in the Darlington area of violence between rival factions, but there is nothing the police can't deal with.