Chaos as two Traveller households come to blows in pub following emotional wake
People were rushed to hospital when two Traveller families came to blows in a pub following the wake of a young man in Manchester.
Members of the Joyce and Doherty families had been attending a wake in Collyhurst when ‘horror’ unfolded in the Vine pub. Dougie Joyce, 36, and his brother Tom Joyce, 27, were both handed jail sentences for violent disorder after trouble broke out for about half an hour.
Manchester Crown Court heard that the shocking incident ended with two members of the Doherty family being taken to hospital after suffering ‘significant injuries’.
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The two families had attended the pub as part of a wake following the death of two young men who were part of the traveller community.
(Image: MEN)
It marks the latest episode in the long running feud between the families. Prosecutors told how trouble began at about 5pm, on Friday, October 2, 2020.
They said footage from the pub showed signs of conflict and verbal rows before it turned violent about 20 minutes later, with two groups of about 10 young men forming distinct groups.
At one point Tom Joyce grabbed a bottle of beer inside the pub and smashed it, before wielding it. As trouble spilled out onto the car park, Tom Joyce continued to be armed with the bottle and as a fight broke out, he struck a member of the Doherty family to the face with it, the court heard. He could be seen to be ‘covered in copious amounts of blood’, as Joyce was then assaulted by others himself.
(Image: MEN MEDIA)
Dougie Joyce also smashed a bottle in the build up, but did not use it and dropped it. He armed himself with a plastic pipe and threw it at another man, prosecutor Constance Halliwell said.
The injured men were bundled into a car and taken to the Manchester Royal Infirmary. They refused to provide statements to police, and the two Joyces were interviewed the following year and answered ‘no comment’ to questions.
Tom Joyce was sentenced to 22 months in prison, while Dougie was handed a 13-month jail term. Both will serve half of their sentences behind bars.
Dougie was already serving a 19-month sentence for causing grievous bodily harm after launching a sickening attack on a 78-year-old man in a pub in the Northern Quarter.
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