Stephen Georgeson

Stephen Georgeson was found injured in Houghton Road, Thurnscoe on Friday 5 June 2020.

He later died on Sunday 7 June 2020 from subdural haemorrhage due to blunt force trauma to the head.

However, his inquest later heard that it could not be determined whether his injuries were due to an assault or a fall.

He was noted as having been an alcoholic with a history of alcohol dependency and to have been a frequent attender at Barnsley Hospital's emergency department because of that.

His inquest, which was held at the Medico Legal Centre in Sheffield on 20 May 2021, heard that he was often admitted to the accident and emergency department suffering from alcohol-related seizures which were often thought to have been due rather to alcohol withdrawal, as well as mental health issues and other injuries resulting from him having fallen over and knocking his head.

However, it was also noted that he had also been admitted to the hospital suffering from assault injuries, including having been kicked and punched in the face, about a week before his death.

On Sunday 7 June 2020 he was found at the top of a staircase outside a flat in Houghton Road in an unresponsive state on his knees.

He had spent the afternoon of 4 June 2020 drinking with two friends in Derry Grove Park in Thurnscoe after which they had gone back to the flat in Houghton Road where they continued to drink until the early hours of 5 June 2020.

CCTV showed the two friends leaving and returning to the flat at various times throughout the morning, but that later one of the men left, leaving Stephen Georgeson in the flat with the other man until about midday when the tenant of the flat returned, it being noted that he had not been a party to the previous days drinking. However, it was noted that he had not been able to gain access to the flat as the gates were padlocked and he was seen to climb over a wall in CCTV footage and to then leave shortly after with the other man that had been in the flat with Stephen Georgeson.

The tenant was seen then to return to the flat with a pair of bolt cutters and to then leave again ten minutes later. He was then seen to return 15 minutes later with two 15-year-old boys, one of whom was his son.

The man that had been with Stephen Georgeson until the tenant returned said that he was woken up at midday by the tenant when he returned and then found Stephen Georgeson lying unresponsive on the bedroom floor. However, he said that no attempts were made to move Stephen Georgeson until the tenant returned later with the two 15-year-old boys after which they all moved Stephen Georgeson out of the flat and on to the landing at the top of the stairwell outside, leaving him on his knees against the railings.

The tenant said that he left Stephen Georgeson where he was but that when he later returned alone he found him in the same position and so he sprayed him with a hosepipe to rouse him, but that when that failed he called for an ambulance.

When he arrived at the hospital, the doctors sad that they were concerned by a number of his injuries, which included a bloody nose and a cut above his eye and so they called the police on the suspicion that he might have been assaulted. He was also later found to have a number of rib fractures that the doctors thought had been inflicted on 4 or 5 June 2020.

However, the police noted that there was no CCTV evidence of him having been assaulted, or any witness statements to that effect.

Five people were arrested in total on suspicion of murder, including the two 15-year-old boys but were later released.

The police said, 'Their accounts do match CCTV but we don't know what happened in the flat', later adding, 'As a police officer I've got to go with the evidence and I've got no proof that he was assaulted but his injuries do suggest that at some point he's been assaulted, I just haven't got evidence'.

The doctor that carried out the post mortem said that there was no doubt that Stephen Georgeson had been assaulted at some time, but that the subdural haemorrhage could have been caused by a fall.

The doctor said, 'Straight off the bat I think there is good evidence here that Mr Georgeson has been assaulted, the overall pattern of his injuries are consistent with an assault or multiple assaults. The difficulty is that he has been assaulted on more than one occasion. The question is, did he sustain the fatal injury from a fall? An assault? Or was there a combination? I think Mr Georgeson has been assaulted, I think there's good evidence of accidental trauma as well'.

After hearing the evidence, the Coroner returned an open verdict, adding that they were unable to reach a firm conclusion over what happened to him.

The Coroner said, 'I'm satisfied on the balance of probabilities that there was an assault on Stevie but I cannot be sure whether this caused the fatal head injury'.