A boxing trainer friend of Ian Wright yelled “he’s done me” after a football fan stabbed him in the neck with a broken bottle, a court heard. Reece Newcombe, 31, died from his injuries after the attack outside Viva Nightclub in Richmond on 26 November 2022. Ross Hamilton, 34, is accused of inflicting the fatal blow after a fight broke out between the pair following England’s draw with USA at the Qatar World Cup. Both men had earlier watched the match in a fan zone in Richmond Park before going to Viva. Hamilton had been acting provocatively towards a father and son after they finished their meal at The Ivy in Richmond earlier that evening, jurors heard. After enjoying a birthday dinner with family, Thomas Lang saw a man approach his 80-year-old father before “tapping him on the head”. Mr Lang told the court: “My wife noticed an issue he came over and spoke to my dad, he was speaking to my brother and my dad and then he gave my dad a little tap to the head. He then started sparring at my dad and said, ‘come on loud one’.” Prosecutor Louis Mably, KC, asked Mr Lang: “What was the mood of this, was it jokey or something else?” And he replied: “It seemed in a way a bit jokey but a big agitated trying to get a rise out of someone.” Mr Mably continued: “Did you intervene?” And he said: “I did, it’s my old man.” Asked what he did then the witness replied: “I came over and asked, ‘what was the issue?’ and I think it was after that he said there was no issue, he tapped me on the stomach, he was saying it in a joking way, he said ‘how far are you?’ meaning I’m pregnant or something.” Mr Mably asked: “What was your response?” Mr Lang replied: “I said that’s very rich coming from you.” The following morning Mr Lang said he saw a post on social media alleging Hamilton was responsible for Mr Newcombe’s death. “When I found out the name, I looked it up on social media, I saw the picture of him and I knew exactly who it was,” Mr Lang added. Scott Chadwick, a friend of Mr Newcombe, also went to Viva that evening, the court heard. The prosecutor asked: “Did you notice one man in particular that evening and what was that man doing?” Mr Chadwick replied: “He was being quite aggressive, it seemed he was having an argument with security guys across the side of the road.” Mr Mably asked: “The man, in terms of his description, what did you notice about him?” The witness replied: “Quite a tall guy, bald.” Asked what the man was doing Mr Chadwick said he was “bouncing around the road” and trying to provoke someone. Mr Chadwick told the court the bald man had also threatened to stab his friend before he attacked Mr Newcombe. “He threatened to stab him he just said what he’d do, that ‘he’d wet him up’,” the witness said. Mr Chadwick said he tried to intervene but ended up in an altercation with a friend of Hamilton. “It was just a little scuffle I don’t think there was that much to it, it just all happened so quick, we’d been drinking all day,” he said. Mr Mably asked: “What did you hear next?” Mr Chadwick replied: “Just everyone screaming, just a noise, you never think about it, it was like I was in a film.” Mr Mably asked: “Did you see what had happened to Reece?” Mr Chadwick replied: “I didn’t see what happened, I just turned around and heard him shout out ‘he’s done me’. He was holding his neck.” Mr Mably asked: ‘What did you notice about his neck?’ Mr Chadwick replied: “The amount of blood.” He was then asked if he could still see the “bald” man when this was being said and he responded: “I just remember I just looked around and saw him down the road.” Mr Mably asked: “And then you sat with Reece and told him to ‘stay with us’.” Mr Chadwick replied: “Yeah.” Mr Newcombe died later that morning in hospital from wounds to the veins and arteries leading to his brain. Hamilton later handed himself in at a police station and claimed he acted in self-defence. Mr Newcombe helped train former England striker Ian Wright, 60, and other celebrities for a charity boxing match in 2014. He also trained actor Jack O’Connell, who starred in the drama ‘SAS: Rogue Heroes.’ Hamilton, from Isleworth, west London, denies murder, assault and possession of an offensive weapon. The trial continues.
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