Wedding guest hit out at others

The incident on August 5 happened when a disagreement spilled out of the Moonrakers pub in Cricklade Road during the early hours, the bench heard yesterday.

The bride herself was later fined and ordered to pay costs for assaulting a police officer.

At yesterday's hearing one of the guests, Michael Delany, 22, admitted affray and breaching a conditional discharge imposed in January for a charge of taking a car without consent.

Rhys Davies, prosecuting, said police got reports about a group of men fighting in the pub car park.

They dispersed them but 20 minutes later they were still receiving calls about disturbances in the area and decided to monitor the party.

As they watched they saw a group of men and women screaming and shouting at each other and heard the sound of glasses smashing on the ground.

Mr Davies said Delany, of Old Gloucester Road, Winterbourne, near Bristol, was seen hitting other people in the group.

The police then went into the group with the intention of arresting him.

He ran off and they were left dealing with other people in the crowd who were all fighting and lashing out at each other, said the prosecutor.

When they investigated later on it was revealed that the drunken bridegroom had become involved in an altercation outside the pub.

The defendant, who was also drunk, had joined in and objected loudly when he saw that other members of the party were being arrested.

Rob Ross, defending, said the incident probably looked much worse to an onlooker than it was to be involved in.

He explained that it actually involved a group of people who knew and liked each other.

He said it had happened because a disagreement inside the pub during the party had been taken outside.

And Delany had only got involved to try and restrain the bridegroom, he said.

The bench adjourned the hearing until September 16 for pre-sentence reports to be prepared

Delany was granted unconditional bail.

Tina Clarke