Hunt for killer of father is continuing

Mar 16 2009 by Joanne Butcher, The Journal

POLICE are continuing the hunt for the killer of a County Durham family man who died after being attacked on a night out.

Police say Andrew Gardner, 35, died just minutes after telling his girlfriend he had been attacked.

The father of one collapsed and died on his living room floor after returning from a night out on Friday. He told his partner he had been assaulted on the way back to his home in Arthur Street, Chilton, County Durham.

Detectives said he managed to get back to the house he shared with his partner, their one-year-old daughter and her three children, but 20 minutes later he collapsed.

Paramedics were called, but there was nothing they could do to revive him, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police launched a murder investigation at the weekend, after a post-mortem revealed Mr Gardner – known as Andy to his friends and family – had died from “multiple injuries”.

They are also investigating another assault on Mr Gardner earlier in the week.