THE mother of a teenage boy who died months after a brutal one-punch assault last night said she would not give up her fight to bring more charges against her son’s attacker.
Kristian Thompson, from Burnopfield, County Durham, died in the shower of a Northampton hospital after he was felled in an unprovoked attack while out with friends in September 2010.
A Home Office pathologist said the attack could have triggered seizures which may ultimately have killed him. Before he died he was being prescribed medication for his behaviour which may have suppressed his epileptic fits, an inquest has heard.
But because Kristian had not been diagnosed with the condition, pathologists were unable to conclusively say that the attack had caused his death.
Instead, they told a coroner that Kristian’s death may have been caused by sudden adult death syndrome which affects just 4% of people his age.
In the weeks leading up to his death, Kristian lost more than two stone in weight and would “zone-out” without being able to concentrate fully.
But Kristian’s mother, Maxine, 45, told the inquest at Crook’s Civic Centre: “My son would not have died had he not been hit. There was nothing breaking the chain, he didn’t suffer cancer or drug abuse, he died from the attack.”
Kristian had finished a shift at a working men’s club before meeting friends at the K2 nightclub in Consett on September 4, 2010. Later, the talented cricket player was seen on CCTV being viciously attacked with a single blow in the bar’s toilets. He fell and slammed his head on the floor.
