Actor Stephen Tompkinson has revealed his partner’s parents were killed by a sexting lorry driver just six weeks after he was accused of punching a drunk man.

The DCI Banks star, 57, was cleared of causing grievous bodily harm to a man he confronted outside his house at Newcastle Crown Court last week. 

Tompkinson had been accused of punching Karl Poole in the head after finding him and a friend drinking at the bottom of his driveway in Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear, in the early hours of May 30, 2021. 

Mr Poole fell to the ground and broke his skull when his head hit the pavement but Tompkinson told jurors he had only pushed Mr Poole away in self-defence.

This morning Tompkinson spoke about his ordeal on ITV’s Lorraine, saying: ‘They were trying to prove a punch that never happened. There was no physical evidence on my hand or the guy’s face, he was just incredibly drunk and he fell.’

He also described his partner Jessica Johnson as a ‘shining light’ who looked after him during the investigation and trial – and revealed her parents were killed in a car crash by a lorry driver who was sexting on his phone in Durham. 

Lorry driver Ion Onut was jailed for more than eight years at Durham Crown Court in January 2022 after he ploughed into stationary traffic on the A1(M) and killed three people – David Daglish, Elaine Sullivan and Paul Mullen – in July 2021. It is believed that Mr Daglish and Ms Sullivan were Ms Johnson’s parents, but this is unconfirmed.

The crash, which saw his lorry burst into flames and career a further 320ft along the road, came moments after he was looking at the adult dating site ‘S**g Today’.

Onut later agreed to be interviewed in prison as part of a BBC documentary titled Deadly Browsing: The Lorry Driver which aired in July 2022 – and he apologised to the bereaved families.

Today, Tompkinson credited actress Ms Johnson as inspiring him to get through the ordeal with her ‘incredible’ attitude after the crash.

‘Jess was amazing,’ he said. ‘And frankly, my problems went into a top hat six weeks later when Jess’s parents were sitting in stationary traffic in Durham.

‘A lorry driver behind them, who we then found out was sexting on his phone on an adult dating hook-up site, didn’t see the traffic, hadn’t stopped and ploughed into them at 56mph killing them instantly, and the driver of the car in front, and injured people in other vehicles.’

Tompkinson explained that the pair were performing Educating Rita at the time and because it had been ‘stopped a couple of times’ during Covid, Ms Johnson decided to continue performing.

‘She went into this incredible mode, I don’t know how she did it and a few weeks later attended the double funeral of her mum, stepdad and was then back on stage that night in Kingston-upon-Thames,’ he added.

‘So if you ever needed an example of strength and a shining light, she has been that throughout and looked after me through this.

‘I’ll never be able to thank her enough.’

Tompkinson said Ms Johnson had also helped him in the run-up to the tour of his new play Stumped, which sees him star as playwright Samuel Beckett.

The first performance will take place at Theatre Royal Bath next Tuesday.

Host Lorraine Kelly told him: ‘You’re back and you’ve put all of this behind you and I have to say you’re looking a lot better because I was a wee bit worried about you.’

To this, Tompkinson replied: ‘Yes, well I am eating again, which is good.’ 

Speaking about his court ordeal, Tompkinson said it ‘could’ve been investigated a lot sooner and dealt with there and then, rather than waiting two years’.

He said the case ‘had to be answered’ but he also questioned whether it was ‘worth’ bringing it.

When asked how long it took to throw out his case, he said: ‘Less than an hour. You have to wonder, was it worth bringing it in in the first place?’

Discussing the incident , Tompkinson said: ‘It was about five o’clock on a Sunday morning at the end of May, beautiful day and these two chaps turned up one just dressed in his underpants and socks and his friend who was also very dishevelled… they were the definition of drunk and disorderly. Several other people in the street had heard the commotion. 

‘They were in a heck of a state, it turns out the chap was four times over the drink drive limit and so I called the police. I was worried this bottle [of alcohol] was going to break in the area where the seven-year-old in the house plays on the skateboard and on a bike.

‘They didn’t seem to be horrible in any way… so I just thought if I asked them to move on and show them that I called the police. But then they turned a bit nasty and turned on me.

‘I stopped one of them with my open palm from advancing any further. Because of the state he was in, he took a tumble and fell about eight feet away from me in that direction, smacking the back of his head and got a very serious brain injury, which, no joking matter, that had to be investigated.’

The trial was told Mr Poole and his friend Andrew Hall had been drinking since midnight that bank holiday Sunday and had gone to the beach before passing Tompkinson’s home in Whitley Bay on the walk back.

Tompkinson, who was living with his partner and her seven-year-old son at the time, heard ‘strange noises’ at around 5.30am.