Death after incident on playing fields sends 'shockwaves' through quiet Derbyshire village

Police say two men, aged 65 and 51, were involved in an incident on playing fields off Town Lane, Newton, and one of them was allegedly assaulted.

The 65-year-old man was taken to hospital the following day and the 51-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm.

The older man sadly later died in hospital and the man in custody was further arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.

Councillor Dexter Bullock, a Newton district councillor and chairman of Blackwell Parish Council, said the incident and manslaughter investigation had sent ‘shockwaves’ through the village.

"Newton is a quiet village and this is such a brilliant parish,” Coun Bullock said. “So this has saddened the whole community and it is a tragic incident.

“The thoughts and prayers of everyone on the parish council are with the gentleman’s family.

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"Anyone who has any information, even if they think it is irrelevant, should contact Derbyshire police so they can find out what happened.”

A Derbyshire Constabulary spokesperson said earlier this week: “We believe there were two groups of teenagers at the playing fields that afternoon who may have witnessed what happened, or perhaps have recorded footage on their mobile phones. One group of youngsters were playing football while the other group had bikes.”

In Newton, residents said the incident was a ‘very unusual’ event in a close-knit community.

A 59-year-old man, who asked not to be named, said: “It was a shock to hear it had happened. It’s been very upsetting but sounds like it was a one-off and isolated incident.

“I hope the group the police wanted to speak to come forward if they can help.”

A 34-year-old woman said she ‘couldn’t believe’ it had happened when her husband told her.

She added: "We’ve not lived here long but it seems very out of character. We’re not concerned too much, just sad about what has happened and feel sorry for the man’s family.”

Witnesses or anyone with information should contact Derbyshire police on 101, quoting reference 20000478894.

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