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Homeless man beaten up in vicious street brawl

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A man was beaten up on the streets of Newcastle last Thursday over a baby seagull.

A passer-by who filmed the incident said Mr Darren Beckham, 34, had been kicking the birds outside a KFC at Bigg Market​, reported Mirror.

Chronicle Live reported the 26-year-old witness as saying: “He was shouting and swearing and trying to kick the birds."

“All of a sudden he grabbed one of the gulls and held it beneath his arm then headed towards the Groat market. The bird was struggling. That’s when I got my camera phone out," she said.

Two men who had just exited a pub thought Mr Beckham was mistreating the bird after they saw him drop it.

They approached him and the situation quickly descended into a vicious brawl.

No one tried to help

Mr Beckham threw the first punch, but was later subdued by the other men, one of whom rained down punches on him.

The scene played out in broad daylight on the street, but no one tried to intervene.

Mirror reported the 26-year-old witness as saying: "People had been passing by and were just pointing as if to say ‘look at that’, but there was no help at all."

The Northumbria Police are investigating the incident.

It wasn't about the seagull

But Mr Beckham doesn't think the brawl had anything to do with the bird. He claims the two men took issue with him being homeless.

Chronicle Live reported him as saying: "I don’t think it had anything to do with the bird, it was because I’m homeless. You wouldn’t believe the abuse you get on the streets."

"The men could have just talked to me but instead they were calling me a tramp, telling me, 'you wanna get a job'."

What about the bird then?

“It was injured and I kept hold of it. I thought if I let it go, it would fly but it didn’t and it looked like I’d dropped it and it all just kicked off from there,” said Mr Beckham.

Sources: Chronicle Live, Mirror

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