A TEENAGER appeared in court yesterday accused of the murder of a homeless man.
The 17-year-old, from South Shields, is alleged to have killed loner Richard Jones, in the early hours of New Year's Day.
A reveller returning home from New Year celebrations found the badly beaten body of the former Welsh Guardsman in a shelter on South Shields promenade.
Forty-seven-year-old Mr Jones, whose family is from the Rhondda Valley, in south Wales, is believed to have been living rough in the South Shields area in the weeks before his death.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before South Tyneside Youth Court yesterday, charged with murder.
The case was adjourned for four weeks and he was remanded in custody by the youth panel
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