Pub beer garden thugs left customers terrified at Charles Henry Roe in Cross Gates as they threw bottles and chairs and made threats to shoot door staff
and live on Freeview channel 276
Leeds Crown Court was shown shocking CCTV footage of the disturbance caused by Conor Gray and Michael Hope at Charles Henry Roe, Austhorpe Road, Cross Gates.
A judge who sentenced the pair described the incident at the JD Wetherspoon pub as 'utterly disgraceful and shameful.'
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdLorena Veale, prosecuting, said CCTV cameras captured the disturbance in August last year.
Both defendants threw chairs and Hope threw a bottle across the beer garden.
A woman in a wheelchair was put in danger and her son began to cry as Gray headbutted a window.
The pair then became aggressive and abusive towards door staff before leaving and getting into an Audi A3 parked nearby.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe car was driven away but the two men returned on foot armed with weapons.
Customers fled as Hope and Gray approached the premises.
Gray, 23, of Penarth Road, Cross Gates, of was holding a hammer which he used to bang against bins.
Hope, 22, also of Penarth Road, was carrying a spirit level as he went up to a doorman and said: "I have got a gun. I'm going to empty 18 rounds into you."
Hope had one hand behind his back near to his waistband as he made the threat.
He tried to get back inside the pub before both men left.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe doorman provided a statement to the court describing how he was "alarmed and distressed" as he believed he was being threatened with a firearm.
Both defendants pleaded guilty to affray and possession of an offensive weapon.
Mr Foley said both men had been grieving over the death of family members at the time and they reacted badly after a man told them to move from where they had been sitting.
The barrister described the incident as out of character for both men who were usually hard-working and law-abiding.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdBoth men were given 20-month prison sentences, suspended for two years, and were fined £1,000 each.
Judge Tom Bayliss Qc said: "You were drunk. There is no excuse.
"Bringing in to play relatives who have recently died, I'm afraid, disrespects them rather than explains your attitude.
"You both need to grow up and accept responsibility for your own actions that were fuelled by drink.
"It was an utterly disgraceful, shameful incident.
"Then, as if that was not bad enough, you go back to the pub armed with weapons and confront the door staff."