AN accounts clerk drowned after being the victim of a bungled robbery, it was alleged at Manchester City Magistrates Court yesterday. Mr George Tripp, from Dun Laoghaire, was followed by a man and a boy of 14 and pushed into a city centre canal, it was claimed. Prosecutor Mr Kevin Rogers said Mr Tripp (27) had been drinking with colleagues. Before the court were Mr Colin McDonald (23) and the teenager who cannot be named for legal reasons.
They are charged with killing Mr Tripp. Mr Rogers claimed it was Mr McDonald who had pushed Mr Tripp while trying to rifle his pockets. Mr Tripp toppled over a railing and fell 15 feet into the Rochdale canal. Solicitor Mr Stephen Foote, defending, said Mr McDonald would maintain that Mr Tripp had staggered into him and fallen into the canal through a gap in the railings. Mr McDonald and the teenager were refused bail and remanded in custody for a week.