AN 18-year-old Felixstowe man is today banned from the town's pubs and clubs after pleading guilty to violent disorder following a mass brawl on the seafront.
AN 18-year-old Felixstowe man is today banned from the town's pubs and clubs after pleading guilty to violent disorder following a mass brawl on the seafront.
Samuel Hughes, of Constable Road, appeared for a sentencing hearing at South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to a charge of violent disorder at an earlier hearing.
District judge David Cooper said: “I think he has had a hard life and he hasn't tried to minimise what he has done. Nonetheless this offence was so serious I am going to pass a custodial sentence but I will suspend it.”
Judge Cooper sentenced Hughes to 16 weeks in a young offenders' institution, suspended for one year.
He ordered a requirement of the suspension be that Hughes is excluded from Felixstowe pubs and clubs and made the subject of an electronic tagging curfew requirement between 9pm and 6am until midnight on January 1, 2007.
No order was made for prosecution costs.
Addressing Hughes, Judge Cooper added: “You won't get this chance again. If you break the exclusion or commit an offence in the next 12 months you will have to serve the 16 weeks.”
Another defendant, Karl Brown, 19, of Kiln Field, Felixstowe, who was also charged with violent disorder in connection with the incident, was sent to crown court for sentence.
Eleven people - including two Lithuanians - have so far appeared in court charged with violent disorder in connection with the brawl, which happened on Easter Sunday this year.
Police arrested and interviewed 21 people over the fight - a running battle which horrified holidaymakers and residents.
The major disturbance began near the leisure centre about 5.20pm and then erupted in the Holland Road area about 7pm. It followed weeks of simmering friction between Felixstowe youths and the Lithuanian migrants.
At the height of the fracas, ten police cars, two vans and a helicopter were deployed to help restore order.
Witnesses reported seeing about 12 people involved in the brawl and said there were definitely two distinct groups.
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