'Loutish' Chester trio sentenced for city street 'melee'

Thomas Abley, 32, of Durham Road, Logan Moore, 19, of Stamford Road and Jordan Young, 20, of no fixed abode, had each pleaded guilty to attacking Lewis Finlow and Vaughan Hodson on the night of May 22, 2021.

Appearing at Chester Magistrates Court on Friday, January 21, all three were handed community orders.

Prosecuting, Amie Gouldson said it was 12.50am when the group became confrontational with another group of people outside a shop on Garden Lane, following a conversation which became heated.

CCTV footage played out in court showed Abley having thrown the first punch.

The court heard a "melee" broke out, with punches and kicks, and the victims being thrown to the floor.

Mr Finlow, in a victim impact statement, said his left eye swelled up and very quickly following the incident and turned black.

He had been left unable to drive and was struggling to eat due to the punches to the face.

Since the attack, he said he had been "extremely nervous" going out.

He had lived in Chester for four years and had loved being in the city, meeting some amazing people, until this incident happened.

He added he did not know the three men and "there was absolutely no reason" for the attack to happen.

Mr Hodson said he had a chipped tooth following the incident, which required him to drive back home,, costing him £50 on travel plus the cost of a dental appointment.

He said he became quite anxious about going out, having previously loved being in Chester.

If the police had not turned up, Mr Hodson feared the attack, which was "completely unprovoked", would have continued.

He had come to Chester from a small village and had chosen the city as he believed it was safer than other university destinations.

Abley had 24 previous convictions for 40 offences, Moore had three previous convictions for five offences and Yong had five previous convictions for nine offences.

Defending all three, Howard Jones said the defendants all accepted they were in the wrong and expressed remorse.

Moore had said he was "totally pathetic" and "felt stupid and ashamed", comments which were echoed by the other two.

The trio had been out in Chester and drank to excess. They were heading back to the Blacon area and had struck up a conversation with the group initially on the offer of sharing a taxi fare.

But the conversation went "down the wrong road" and the fight began.

Abley had no recollection of the incident, only waking up in the cells and did not know why he was there.

All wished to apologise for their actions.

District Judge Nicholas Sanders said: "This sort of behaviour in the city centre is just loutish behaviour. It makes people feel unsettled and has the potential to cause serious harm. Abley, you are old enough to know better."

Abley was handed an 18-month community order, to include up to 40 days of a rehabilitation activity requirement (RAR) and 240 hours unpaid work.

Moore was handed a 12-month community order to include 200 hours unpaid work.

Young was handed an 18-month community order to include 40 days RAR and 180 hours unpaid work.

Each of them must pay £300 compensation to Mr Finlay and £200 compensation to Mr Hodson.

No other court costs were ordered.

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