A wedding ended in chaos after a fight broke out between guests who were left covered in blood.
They caused £15,000 of damage to the Daresbury Park Hotel in Daresbury near the outskirts of Runcorn and left the rest of the 50 to 60 guests shaken. Violence broke out in the bar in the hotel function room before spreading to other areas.
Tables, chairs and glasses flew as men aged between 21 and 55 fought. Cheshire Police said the men armed themselves with makeshift weapons such as coat stands and fire extinguishers before returning to the main room to carry on fighting.
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A force spokeswoman said five officers were led towards the hotel’s Alice bar at about 11.35pm but retreated downstairs to the reception area to request back-up due to glasses being thrown in their direction.
Upon the officers’ arrival, several men inside the Alice bar and part of the wedding party were still fighting with other guests, continuing to throw items and waving curtain poles at each other.
Police opened the doors to the function rooms and shouted for everyone inside to leave.
Fighting continued despite the police arrival and carried on until the men had been detained.
The men were taken into custody “covered in blood” and with injuries to their faces and bodies.
After being interviewed they were released on conditional bail while enquiries continued until they were charged and pleaded guilty to violent disorder.
This week at Chester Crown Court, nine of the men were sentenced. On Monday, four were sentenced. Edward William Stokes, 28, of St Giles Street, New Bradwell, Milton Keynes, was sentenced to 27 months in prison.
Terry Stokes, 36, of Princess Street, Winsford, was sentenced to 21 months in prison. Thomas Stokes, 40, of Glazier Drive, Neath Hill, Milton Keynes, was sentenced to 25 months in prison.
Edward Stokes, 50, of Kettle Avenue, Crewe, received a 16-week prison sentence suspended for 18 months and 100 hours unpaid work.
On Wednesday, a further five were sentenced:
John Stokes, 23, of Roseville Park, Antrim, was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
John Steven Stokes, 27, of Ruskin Road, Crewe was sentenced to 21 months' imprisonment.
Stephen Stokes, 25 of Hume Street, Fairfield and Howley, was sentenced to 20 months' imprisonment.
Brian Stokes, 25, of Bradfield Road, Crewe, was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment. Edward Joseph Stokes, 21, of Kettell Avenue, Crewe, was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Two further men are to be sentenced at a date to be fixed in connection with the brawl.
Speaking following the hearings, Detective Constable Sophie Davies said: “The disorder caused by these men in 30 minutes led to the function room, the items that were borrowed from a company as part of the wedding party and other areas of the hotel being completely destroyed at a cost of almost £15,000.
“The level of violence involved meant the officers who first attended to the hotel were unable to access the function room to bring the other guests, who were understandably shaken by what was happening, to safety due to having items thrown directly at them.
“The full extent of what happened was captured on CCTV footage from inside the hotel enabling us to see the full scale of the violence from start to finish and showed how much these men were intent on causing harm to each other as well as to others.”
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