A MAN and a youth have avoided jail despite their part in a large brawl which a barrister likened to ‘a free-for-all you would see in a Wild West film made in Hollywood’.

Anthony Reilly, 17, and Martin McDonagh, also known as Eamon Maughan, 19, were sentenced at Preston Crown Court over a violent fight at Switch nightclub in Blackburn in the early hours of August 19, 2018, in which steels poles and a sickle had been used as weapons.

The court heard that the men had become embroiled in a fracas with around 10 others, which resulted in the club being trashed, a glass door being smashed and one of the men suffering serious injuries including half of his ear being cut off.

Judge Simon Medland said: “This was a lamentable scene of utter devastation; the place was completely trashed.

“The door was bashed, chairs were thrown down the stairs, people were bare chested and fighting, and metal bars and steel poles were being used as weapons.

“CCTV shows one man being ragged around and stabbed, and there was blood found on a sickle.

“There seems to have been no motive for the brawl either.”

At an earlier trial, Reilly, of Lamlash Road, Blackburn and McDonagh of Queen Victoria Street, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to affray in the incident which, from CCTV, appeared to have started when one man from the group approached another in an aggressive manner.

The court heard that Reilly smashed the glass doors to the club which broke the frame and a metal pole broke free from the frame which was then used as a weapon.

The assailants forced their way into the club on a number of occasions, returning time and time again to keep fighting.

Prosecuting, Robert Elias said: “It was a free-for-all like something you would see in a Wild West film made in Hollywood.”

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Judge Medland said: “At one point on the CCTV McDonagh can be seen picking up a metal pole and using it as a spear.

“There were a large number of substantially built door staff who did nothing at all to stop this from happening.

“A number of women were the only ones who did anything. The door staff were utterly ineffectual and I would invite the licence people to assess their suitability.”

The court heard that McDonagh already had an 18-month community order which was handed to him at Lanark Sheriff’s Court in Scotland for offences related to counterfeit money.

Reilly, whose defence barrister Jonathan Turner said had a promising career as a boxer ahead of him, also had convictions for affray in 2018.

Judge Medland said: “You were both young men at the time and will remember watching that fight and the serious injury your friend sustained; it was a dreadful scene of public disorder.

“It was over a year ago and you’ve both been subject to curfews which you have abided by.”

McDonagh was given a three-month curfew from 8pm until 6am, and Reilly was handed a nine-month youth rehabilitation order and instructed to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.