Pregnant woman saw her lover beaten to death in McDonald's by a father and son

A young man was beaten to death by a father and son in a packed McDonald's, a court heard yesterday.

Richard Moore, 21, was attacked by Gerard Stonehouse, 48, and Jonathan Stonehouse, 18, after his pregnant girlfriend complained the younger man was staring at her, the jury was told.

Words were exchanged and a fight broke out in which Mr Moore, who stood 5ft 8ins and weighed eight stone, suffered a torn artery in the neck.

The prosecution claim the Stonehouses continued the attack after Mr Moore collapsed on the floor, leaving him with around 20 separate injuries.

He was taken to hospital but died the following day.

John Farmer, prosecuting, told Norwich Crown Court that Mr Moore and Jemma Todd, 18, who was eight months pregnant, arrived at the McDonald's store in Haymarket, Norwich, near their home, just before 4pm on March 21.

The Stonehouses arrived minutes later and moved to a table nearby.

Mr Farmer said: "Rightly or wrongly, Jemma Todd felt that she was effectively being stared at by the younger defendant and she reproached him fairly robustly, you may think. Words were said.

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"It seems the man who was going to die did stand up, as indeed did the younger defendant and his father."

He added: "The Crown say that what essentially happened was that father and son attacked the young man."

Mr Farmer said the Stonehouses might claim they were defending themselves against an "8st 2lb bloke attacking them".

But he added: "It is right that you can use force to defend yourself but only such force as is reasonably necessary.

"This was in a public restaurant and he was a little bloke."

The court heard during the fight one of the Stonehouses landed a blow which caused Mr Moore to collapse from a brain haemorrhage.

Despite this, they continued to hit him, said Mr Farmer.

Miss Todd wept as she told the court how she tried to separate Jonathan

Stonehouse and her boyfriend before Gerard Stonehouse became involved.

She said: "The older man was hitting him. I didn't see any response from Richard.

"Richard wasn't fighting back at that point. There was no life in him at all."

The court heard the Stonehouses, who live together in Norwich, left the McDonald's after the attack and were arrested later that day.

In a statement to police, Jonathan Stonehouse said he used physical force "to protect myself".

His father told officers he had gone to his son's defence. Both deny manslaughter.

The case continues.