Five men jailed after day of violence in Weymouth

Dorchester Crown Court was told that a fight involving two large groups in the town centre on June 25 last year was some of the worst violence officers attending had encountered in their entire careers.

Kirk Adams, 21, Tom Kitcher, 19, Ronald Brenton, 21, and 24-year-old Luke Cox were all sentenced to 20 weeks in prison for violent disorder.

Christopher Pope, 26, was also sentenced to 20 weeks in prison for an offence of affray and 20-year-old Daniel Robinson, who also admitted an affray charge, received a sentence of 20 weeks in prison suspended for one year.

The court was told Robinson had no previous convictions and the judge commented that CCTV footage showed he played a lesser role in the fighting that broke out on the junction of King Street and Gloucester Mews at about 6pm.

Brenton and Cox were found guilty of violent disorder, following a trail at Dorchester Crown Court.

Adams and Kircher admitted violent disorder while Pope and Robinson admitted affray.

Adams and Brenton also admitted public order offences over their involvement in an earlier melee outside Rendezvous at around 4pm.

The CCTV footage of both incidents was shown to the court and in the later incident two groups of 15 to 20 males were seen grappling, throwing kicks and punches and throwing road signs and bollards.

Prosecutor Audrey Archer said: “Officers who attended the scene described what they encountered as the worst public order type incident they had come across in their careers due to the level of violence that was used by persons within the two groups.

“Also officers noted it caused severe disruption to members of the public who were in the area.”

Judge Roger Jarvis told the court that, to be fair, he would be sentencing all of the defendants as if they had been charged with affray as the only reason four were facing the more serious charge of violent disorder was because they had first appeared at a different court with a different prosecutor.

The barristers of all the defendants urged Judge Jarvis not to send their clients into custody immediately and to impose a suspended sentence.

They argued that it had not been a planned confrontation and simply a chance encounter between two groups who had both been drinking and were on their way to the train station.

Judge Jarvis told the defendants: “There is no doubt that this is the sort of violent anti-social behaviour which understandably causes the ordinary man or woman in the street a great deal of distress.

There Was No ‘Pre-Arranged Plan’ For Trouble

THE DEFENDANTS all came from the Bournemouth and Southampton area and defence barristers for the men said there was no ‘pre-arranged plan’ for the violence but they had come down to enjoy a day out.

Pope, of Walkwood Avenue, Bournemouth, Cox, of West Way, Bournemouth, and Robinson of Wordsworth Avenue, Bournemouth, were part of one group.

Adams, of Havendale, Southampton, Kitcher, of Mead Road, Pennington, Lymington, and Brenton, of Pepys Avenue, Thornhill, Southampton, were part of another group that appeared to be heading back to Weymouth train station at the same time after both groups had spent much of the day drinking in the town.

Detective Constable Steve Dodge, of Weymouth CID, said: “All those who appeared at court belonged to two groups who wanted to be involved in violence.

“Fortunately, the CCTV operators on duty that day were able to provide police with updates as to the movements of the groups and officers were on the scene within seconds, making arrests and giving no chance for the violence to escalate.”