THIS is the moment violence flared at a social club in what a judge compared to “the Wild West”.
Three men responsible for the scene of “absolute chaos” which saw a one man suffer a wound during the melee on October 13 have been sentenced.
The drama unfolded when 27-year-old Thomas Peter Reynolds head-butted Kane Hull outside the West Street social club in Wigton just after 11pm in response to “verbal provocation”.
As Reynolds went inside, Hull, 25, followed with the support of 23-year-old pal Callum Kerr.
Hull had hold of a glass bottle by the neck, and Kerr was armed with a knife as a melee ensued.
Reynolds also hurled a table which narrowly missed bystanders during shocking violence captured on CCTV which was played to the court.
Witnesses were said to have described the incident as a “scene of chaos with drinks being thrown around”.
Meanwhile, a police officer said she arrived to find “smashed glass, blood on the floor, glass everywhere, tables overturned and people screaming”.
All three defendants pleaded guilty to affray at Carlisle Crown Court.
Hull and Kerr admitted possessing offensive weapons, and Kerr also admitted later damaging a carpet belonging to Cumbria police.
Kerr, of no fixed address, was jailed for three years, while Hull, of Aglionby, near Carlisle, was sent to prison for two-and-a-half years.
Reynolds, previously of Carlisle and now of Wigton, was handed a 24-month prison term suspended for two years.
He must complete 250 hours’ unpaid work and a six-month night-time curfew.
Several people were said to have been injured.
One man received a slash injury to the back of his head, arm and wrist while attempting to stop the Hull and Kerr.
A second man received a cut to his head and bruising after being struck by a glass bottle, while a third suffered a cut to his hand.
“We can’t say,” prosecutor Tim Evans told the court of the chaos which led to injury, “precisely who does what.”
A court heard both Hull and Kerr had criminal records which included past violence.
Kerr also had a previous knife possession crime on his rap sheet, triggering a six-month minimum prison term.
Hull, meanwhile, had been jailed in the past following separate violent incidents in Carlisle – including one at a betting shop – when weapons were brandished.
Barristers for Hull and Kerr conceded that respective guilty pleas to the Wigton crimes were their best points of defence.
Neil Ronan, for Kerr, spoke of the defendant’s “remorse and contrition”.
At the time of the offences, he “was in the ravages of a very horrible addiction to cocaine”, Mr Ronan said.
Ellen Shaw, for Hull, said he was attacked first on the night but accepted: “He shouldn’t have acted in the way that he did.”
Reynolds’ lawyer, Shaun Routledge, said his client’s behaviour was “wholly out of character”, and that this type of offending “wasn’t in his nature”.
Passing sentence, Judge Peter Davies said: “The CCTV shows absolute chaos; like the Wild West.
“Innocent people are injured. One man suffered a wound. It is impossible to say who inflicted that wound.
“But the chaos and the violence and the disturbance was caused by the three of you – and only the three of you.”
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Judge Davies concluded that a more serious charge of violent disorder should have originally been levelled at the men by the prosecution.
“This was as bad an affray as you could possibly hope to see,” the judge concluded.
Hull was made subject to the terms of a 10-year criminal behaviour order in a bid to curb his offending.
During that period he must not associate with Kerr in any way – including through social media or any third party.
He must not enter Wigton, nor any Coral bookmakers or licensed premises on Botchergate in Carlisle.