Teenager charged with 'wine snatch' murder

A 15-year-old boy was charged today with the murder of a father-of-five who died after being attacked when he refused to hand over a bottle of wine.

Michael Eccles, 43, was set upon yards from his home in Lichfield, Staffordshire, on Sunday as he made his way home from nearby shops. The bottle of wine was found smashed on the street nearby.

Mr Eccles died in hospital on Monday.

Staffordshire Police said the youth would appear at Tamworth Magistrates' Court later today along with Carl Keatley, 20, who was charged with murder last night.

A spokesman for Staffordshire Police said Keatley and the youth were from Lichfield.

A post-mortem examination carried out yesterday found that Mr Eccles died of "multiple injuries consistent with a serious assault", the spokesman said.

The family of Mr Eccles, known as Ecky, said yesterday he was a "hard-working family man, who was kind, giving and loving".

In a statement they said: "He was the best dad and grandad anyone could have wished for and a great brother and loving son.

"It is an awful, awful tragedy that Ecky has been taken from us in this way. We find it really difficult to accept that he's gone.

"The people responsible can simply have no idea what they have done to his family."