Dog-off-lead row lead to fatal attack, court told

A man was killed after a fight began about whether his dog should be on a lead, a trial has heard.

Charlie Greaves, 25, from Ipswich, was discovered at Suffolk Sands Holiday Park in Felixstowe on 11 August 2024.

Daniel Martin, 29, of Felix Road, Felixstowe denied manslaughter when he appeared at Ipswich Crown Court for a plea hearing in January.

Prosecutors at Ipswich Crown Court alleged Mr Martin punched Mr Greaves, who suffered a head injury when he fell backwards and later died.

Barnaby Shaw, prosecuting, told the jury of seven women and five men Mr Martin had been out drinking in the Felixstowe area with a group of friends.

He said they had visited the Grosvenor pub, which Mr Greaves had arrived at separately shortly after, before the group went to Bar 21, close to the seafront.

As they left and headed to the promenade, Mr Greaves had walked past at the same time with his dog.

Mr Shaw told the court some members of Mr Martin's group had told Mr Greaves to put his dog on a lead.

There was an argument and Mr Martin had punched Mr Greaves, the jury heard.

Mr Shaw said that Mr Greaves had suffered a lip injury and had fallen backwards and hit his head, causing him to lose consciousness.

A paramedic arrived and treated Mr Greaves and advised him to go to hospital but he refused.

The court heard Mr Greaves was driven back to the Suffolk Sands caravan park where he was staying with his grandfather.

Mr Greaves' grandfather was said to have seen him arrive home and then go to bed.

In the morning Mr Greaves' grandfather saw him on the floor, with half of his body under the bed. He left him there as he believed he had been drunk the night before.

After seeing his blood-stained jumper some time later, his grandfather checked on Mr Greaves again and found him unresponsive and called emergency services.

Paramedics arrived but he had died.

A post-mortem examination found he had died from a traumatic brain injury.

The court was told that Mr Martin was arrested and at a later police interview had told officers that Mr Greaves had approached him, and said any force used was "proportionate" and that he did not want to hurt him.

The trial is expected to last about three weeks.

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