A JUDGE has jailed four building contractors for “mindless, drunken fighting” in Oxford city centre.
Jack Lawrenson, Martyn Twist, Neil McManus and Rory Owens all admitted affray and assault in Gloucester Green on April 26 last year.
Nigel Ogborne, prosecuting, said the group had come to Oxford from Liverpool to do building work and were out celebrating after completing their job.
But he told Judge Patrick Eccles that an argument broke out in Kebab Kid with a man who accused McManus of being “disrespectful” towards his girlfriend.
The barrister said this led to the four men throwing punches and kicks at Mykyta Vydaiko and Vardan Sarkisyan in a brawl that spilled out outside.
Mr Ogborne said the two victims were pursued and one ran inside Cote Brasserie, in George Street, which prompted the defendants to repeatedly kick the door.
McManus, 36, from Bootle, and Twist, 32, of Knowsley, admitted causing actual bodily harm to Mr Sarkisyan, who suffered facial injuries and had to be taken to hospital for treatment.
McManus and Lawrenson, 24, of Liverpool, admitted causing £460.46 of criminal damage to the restaurant door.
And all four men including Owens, 23, of Bootle, admitted assaulting Mr Vydaiko by beating.
Judge Eccles said he appreciated that all four had no previous convictions and wished they could “turn the clock back”.
But he told them the courts could not tolerate “mindless, drunken fighting in town centres such as Oxford”.
He sentenced them all to immediate prison sentences, with McManus receiving six months, Twist getting four months, and both Lawrenson and Owen receiving three months.
All four will have to pay £80 victims’ surcharges.
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