Mum and dad spark brawl at youngster’s party after attacking pensioners with pool balls and cues
The violent fight saw a man kicked in the head after he fell to the floor and a door broken
CHILDREN were rushed away from a kid's birthday party just after Christmas, after adults began pelting pool balls at a group of elderly card players.
A long standing feud between members of St Clement's working men's club in York sparked a brawl which has since seen four people jailed.
In the midst of the violent fight, a children's birthday party was quickly disbanded as youngsters saw pool cues wielded, a door broken and a man kicked in the head.
The fight began after Kelvin and Zoe Green had come with their three children - the age of whom the court did not hear - to the social club on December 27.
Zoe Green spotted the group of card players at about 10pm and made an obscene gesture at the four men she held a grudge with.
The couple, and Zoe Green's sister, Melissa Chapman, and her sister's partner, Adam Flanagan, surrounded the card players in a "cordon" and began to fight the men in their 60's - two of which have heart problems.
The Greens, from the village of Church Fenton, near Tadcaster, admitted charges of affray and carrying an offensive weapon in public.
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Defending them, Damien Morrison said both were ashamed of their actions.
Judge Deborah Sherwin, at York Crown Court, told the court members of the public had been forced to take the children to safety as the brawl went on around them.
She said: "This was a disgraceful incident for them to experience. They were caught up in the middle of it.
"One child, who appears to be the older boy, looked terrified and distressed.
"The club is a quiet place not known for trouble."
Speaking to Kelvin Green, 30, she said: "It seems incomprehensible how you as a father could subject your children to what happened that evening."
She sentenced him to 12 months in prison, and his wife to six months.
Clapham, 26, and her partner, both from York, admitted affray.
Flanagan was handed a six-month sentence suspended for two years. He must carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and pay £500 to a victim who suffered minor injuries. Defending him, Neal Kutte, told the court Flanagan had got involved in the violence because his partner had and he was attempting to diffuse the situation.
Clapham was also given a six-month sentence suspended for 18 months, and must carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.
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