A traveller boxer who once boasted he was ‘the next Tyson Fury‘ has been jailed again after finding himself involved in a violent brawl with a rival family at a wake.
Dougie Joyce, 36, will find himself behind bars again having already served a 19-month sentence for an attack on an defenseless elderly man in November 2022.
Joyce and his brother Tom, 27, were handed the sentences for violent disorder by Manchester Crown Court after a shocking incident unfolded in the Vine pub in Collyhurst.
The violence erupted in the pub for about half-an-hour after members of the Joyce and Doherty family clashed in the latest episode of their long-running feud.
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 on Friday, October 2, 2020.
Dougie Joyce, 36, will find himself behind bars again having already served a 19-month sentence for an attack on an defenseless elderly man in November 2022
Joyce was handed the sentence for violent disorder by Manchester Crown Court after a shocking incident unfolded in the Vine pub in Collyhurst (picture taken from the Joyce Family documentary)
Two members of the Doherty family were taken to hospital with ‘significant injuries’, one of whom Tom had struck on the head with a smashed beer bottle.
Prosecutors explained how trouble began at about 5pm, as 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 and striking a member of the Doherty family to the face with it in the pub car park, the court heard.
He could be seen to be ‘covered in copious amounts of blood’, as Tom was then assaulted by others himself.
Joyce also smashed a bottle in the build up, but did not use it and dropped it. Instead, 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.
Joyce was handed a 13 month jail term, while Tom was sentenced to 22 months in prison. Both will serve half of their sentences behind bars.
Joyce, who once claimed he’d be the ‘next Tyson Fury’ after turning down a role on reality TV show My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, 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.
A shocking video of the attack showed the traveller and businessman knock the recently widowed elderly man off his chair with three savage blows, before flooring him again after he got to his feet.
The attack on the 78-year-old pensioner took place in a city centre pub in Manchester in November 2022
The injuries to the man’s face were exacerbated by the large golden pyramid ring Joyce was wearing.
Before the attack, Joyce had showed off a glamorous life with his former air hostess wife and made an Amazon Prime documentary about his family.
He also ran several successful business – including, his bare knuckle boxing promotion company, a bespoke furniture range, activewear companies and his own whiskey brand, Joyce’s Irish Whiskey
Joyce was due to be released from that sentence in about a week, but will likely have to serve another six months behind bars.
The judge noted a ‘pattern of violent offending’ in his case when dismissing the appeal made by Joyce’s lawyer for him to receive a suspended sentence.
Recorder Karen Ridge said the footage from the pub depicted ‘the story of the horrors that unfolded’ that day.
The judge said she accepted there was an ‘element of provocation’ and that Joyce, a married dad-of-two, had said he was trying to protect younger members of the family.
Joyce’s barrister Wayne Jackson said that he admitted smashing a bottle but had an ‘epiphany’ and dropped it, realising his actions were ‘incredibly stupid’.
He said that the footage did not show him fighting with anyone.
Joyce pictured driving in a fancy 4×4 car which he regularly flaunts on social media
Joyce posted training videos on his YouTube channel before he was jailed. He setup 3D Fight Club in 2021
Joyce also has a bespoke furniture range, activewear companies and his own whiskey brand, Joyce’s Irish Whiskey
Mr Jackson added: ‘There is an extraordinary number of people involved in this incident, the only two people charged as a result of that evening, though the CCTV is in very clear technicolour, are the two defendants in the dock today.’
He said that testimonials submitted on Mr Joyce’s behalf described him as ‘upstanding’ and of ‘good moral standing’, adding that he had been involved with helping the homeless and with food banks.
Tom Joyce’s barrister Richard Bridgen said that his client had not been an ‘instigator’ and claimed he was ‘peripheral’ in the fracas.
He said that Mr Joyce had spent time in prison for a previous offence and came out a ‘changed man’.
Both defence lawyers appealed for prison sentences to be suspended, but the judge said the case was too serious, noting that it involved ‘widespread and large scale acts of violence’.
Dougie Joyce, of Quayside Close, Salford, and Tom Joyce, of Rylstone Avenue, Chorlton, both admitted violent disorder.