Violent brawl in Mansfield marketplace while holidaying children looked on

The fight broke out by a soup kitchen amid market stalls on the afternoon of Wednesday July 31, last year, after Daniel Marshall began shouting and swearing, prosecutor Stephen Kemp told Nottingham Crown Court, on Wednesday.

A passerby and two security guards tried to break up the melee, which was captured on council CCTV.

Peter Robinson kicked Marshall in the head before limping off and hugging members of the public, Mr Kemp said.

Stephen Roberts was seen goading Marshall, who then punched Thomas Miller. Miller kneed Marshall in the face, threw punches and later returned to kick him in the head.

Alexander Lamb watched the brawl take place, then threw coffee at Marshall and pulled him to the ground, swinging a kick and then stamping on him.

Judge Stuart Rafferty QC said Marshall, who got the worst of the violence, was "just as bad as the rest of them."

"All of the defendants have been in trouble over the years at the lower end of the scale," he said. "In the end there is not much to choose between them.

"So many people were swinging and missing, but there was the potential for people to be frightened and damage to be done.

"I suspect some of the defendants on this day had been drinking. No weapons were used and no serious injury was caused.

It was in the middle of a town centre and anything could have happened. Innocent people are sucked into these incidents."

"This was a joint free-for-all and everyone stands equally to blame."

Lamb, 35, Miller, 35, Roberts, 44, all of no fixed abode, and Robinson, 44, of Corporation Street, Mansfield, all pleaded guilty to affray on Wednesday.

They all received sentences of nine months, suspended for 18 months, and were ordered to pay the statutory surcharge.

Aaron Tomkinson, 30, of no fixed abode, was unable to attend the hearing, and will be sentenced on September 9, along with Marshall 30, of Winsome Green Road, Birmingham.

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