AN AWARD-WINNING kickboxer led a vicious attack in Weymouth town centre that was captured on CCTV, a court was told.

Jo Barry Edwards, aged 20, is seen in the shocking footage throwing punches and kicking out during a confrontation in St Edmund Street.

His friends Mark Nicholas Simpson and Daniel Adam Bentley Davis, both 21, joined in the fight before all three fled.

All three from Weymouth were said to be ‘appalled’ after watching the footage but maintained they acted after a group of men were aggressive towards them.

They had just been to the cinema to watch a 3D film and were still wearing their 3D glasses when the fight broke out.

The men pleaded guilty to using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour to cause fear of unlawful violence at Weymouth Magistrates Court.

Magistrates were told that Edwards, who has a previous conviction for assault, was captured doing most of the punching and kicking.

Edwards is a national champion at his sport and last year won the International Kickboxing Federation middleweight belt.

Lisa Dytham, prosecuting, said: “The CCTV shows Edwards squaring up to the other male. He is shown kicking people and it is known he is a kickboxer.”

Mrs Dytham added: “Edwards said that the other group approached him first and offered to have a fight.”

Davis said he acted in self-defence.

When Simpson saw the CCTV he accepted it was ‘out of order and not necessary,’ said Mrs Dytham.

Holly Huxtable, mitigating, said Simpson and Davis were mainly in the background but all three men accepted responsibility for their actions in the brawl last September.

The three men had not been drinking and only stopped in the street because someone began shouting at them.

Simpson, of St Davids Road, was given a 12-month community order with a requirement to complete 120 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay £85 costs.

Carpentry apprentice Davis, a father-of-one, of Kirtleton Avenue, was given a three-month curfew and must pay £85 costs.

Apprentice plumber Edwards, of Vulcan Close, was given a six-week prison sentence suspended for two years.

He was also ordered to complete an Aggressive Replacement Training programme and pay £85 costs.

Edwards was also dealt with for a charge of assault by beating that he admitted which took place in Dusk nightclub on the Esplanade last July.

Edwards was given a six-week custodial sentence suspended for two years to run concurrently and ordered to pay £100 compensation.