THREE men have been sentenced – with one being jailed – for violence in a Carlisle city centre bar which left the victim with a fractured jaw.

The defendants – Ashley Queen, 35, Daniel Brennan, 37, and Ryan Mellor, also 37 – were initially charged with causing the victim grievous bodily harm but the prosecution accepted their guilty pleas to the alternative charge of affray.

The victim went into Carlisle on December 10, 2022, with his partner as well as colleagues and friends because they were having their work Christmas party, prosecutor Gerard Rogerson told the city’s crown court heard.

The group began their get together in the afternoon with drinks at Woodrow Wilson before moving on to Stanley’s Bar in Lowther Street, The Griffin pub, and then finally to Amante Bar in Lowther Street.

“Their evening had been uneventful,” said Mr Rogerson.

He described how the man who was injured recalled being near to the bar’s toilets when he was suddenly “punched in the face from behind.”

He turned to see his friend grabbing somebody and moving them away from them.

Mr Rogerson continued: “He remembers seeing two men, then receiving more punches.” The man’s next memory was being in the disabled toilets, washing blood from his face.

The prosecutor added: “He did not initially appreciate the severity of his injury and rejoined his partner and friends.”

But the man woke the following morning with “excruciating pain in his jaw.” Doctors later confirmed a fracture to his left jaw, which had to be wired into place.

He spent three days in hospital.

The man said he struggled to remember the incident – a fact he puts down to concussion.

Michelle Brown, defending, said there was no evidence that the defendants had targeted the victim. Representing Mellor and Brennan, she said it was clear that the incident had been fuelled by alcohol.

There was some contact between Queen and the victim and then the other two defendants got involved. The incident was short-lived.

Of Mellor, the barrister said his record included a battery offence from 2013 and another actual bodily harm offence six years earlier.

Since his last offence, he had built a successful business and distanced himself from past wrongdoing.

A probation officer regarded the affray as “an isolated incident.”

Brennan expressed remorse, saying he wishes he had never gone to the bar involved and had just gone home instead. He had no significant convictions for violence apart from when he was 17.

Judge Michael Fanning noted that Queen, formerly of Dunmallet Rigg, Carlisle, was pushed and felt threatened and reacted by delivering one blow before going to the ground.

Mellor had also reacted, dishing out “large hits.”

Brennan, of Prescott Road, Carlisle, got involved because of his association with Mellor, said the judge, accepting that it was not targeted violence.

Mellor, of Blunt Street, Carlisle, and Brennan were given eight months jail, suspended for a year, and each must complete 100 hours of unpaid work.

Brennan must complete 10 rehabilitation activity days, though the judge accepted Mellor needed no rehabilitation as the incident was a "one off."

Queen, who has 46 previous offences on his record, and was given a suspended sentence for an offence in July involving possessing cannabis worth £6,500 with intent to supply, was given a year in jail.

As the case concluded, he told Judge Fanning: “I’m sorry for everything.”