The investigation into David Darke’s death is ongoing, and a suspect has been re-arrested on suspicion of murder, according to police<\/p>\n
The life of a beloved father and grandfather was \u201ctragically cut short\u201d after he was assaulted outside of a bar, his family says.<\/p>\n
David \u201cDave\u201d Darke died on Saturday, Dec. 27, nearly a week after he was punched outside of The Crown Inn, a pub in the English village of Appleby Magna, according to Leicestershire Police. He sustained a \u201cserious head injury\u201d in the attack, which occurred just before 9:45 p.m. local time six days earlier, on Dec. 21.<\/p>\n
Darke was 66 when he died at Queen\u2019s Medical Centre, a hospital in Nottingham, on Dec. 27, according to police.<\/p>\n
A day later, his family celebrated the life of the \u201cdevoted family man\u201d in an emotional statement, as police continue to investigate the circumstances that led to the fatal assault.<\/p>\n
\u201cDave was a deeply loved father to three daughters and a proud grandfather to three boys,\u201d the family said in a statement released via Leicestershire Police. \u201cHe was a much-loved brother and a dear friend. Dave will live on forever in our hearts, minds and souls.\u201d<\/p>\n
Darke\u2019s family also described him as \u201ca strong, active, intelligent and kind person who was a friend to all.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a devoted family man with a deep passion for life, the outdoors, nature and walking,\u201d the family said. \u201cHis life was tragically cut short, and he\u2019s now reunited with his loving, caring parents. He will be sorely missed by all who knew and loved him.\u201d<\/p>\n
An investigation into the Dec. 21 pub assault is still underway, police said.<\/p>\n
Following the attack, an unidentified 36-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and released on bail, according to Leicestershire Police. He was later \u201cre-arrested\u201d on suspicion of murder on Dec. 27, and remains in police custody.<\/p>\n
Kevin Hames \u2014 a detective inspector with East Midlands Special Operations Unit, which is leading the investigation \u2014 shared a glimpse into what authorities have gathered so far, and urged any remaining eyewitnesses to come forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe initial investigation resulted in us identifying several witnesses and examining CCTV from the area. Those enquiries will continue, and the suspect will be re-interviewed by detectives,\u201d Hames said. \u201cIt is an extremely difficult time for Mr. Darke\u2019s family, and specialist officers are supporting them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would still encourage anyone who was in the Church Street [area] last Sunday evening and hasn\u2019t yet spoken with officers to get in touch,\u201d added the detective inspector. \u201cWe need to speak to as many people as possible who can help us piece together what happened that evening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.<\/p>\n
The fatal attack was an unusual occurrence in the \u201cquiet\u201d and \u201cnice\u201d village of Appleby Magna, according to residents who spoke with Leicestershire Live.<\/p>\n
Paul Sambrook, who has lived in the village for five years, described the incident as \u201ctotally out of the blue.\u201d<\/p>\n
“You never feel any atmosphere at all in either of the pubs in the village,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s a friendly, cordial drinking establishment.”<\/p>\n
Another resident who lives near the pub, Millie Newall, called the assault \u201cquite scary.\u201d Said Newall: \u201cIt’s a quiet village and it’s strange for something like this to happen here.”<\/p>\n
“I’ve been living here for four years, and it’s a nice village. And The Crown is a nice pub,\u201d another villager, who chose to remain anonymous, told the local outlet. “It’s just not a village where you get any trouble at all. It’s very sad.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The investigation into David Darke’s death is ongoing, and a suspect has been re-arrested on suspicion of murder, according to police The life of a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-viral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorssite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorssite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorssite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorssite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorssite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3321"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/humorssite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3324,"href":"https:\/\/humorssite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3321\/revisions\/3324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorssite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorssite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorssite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorssite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}