SIX inmates destroyed a prison chapel, drank the communion wine and dressed in the vicar's vestments after going berserk - because they were homesick.

The teenage gang "went mental", shouting abuse at the vicar conducting Sunday service before throwing chairs at prison wardens, barricading themselves inside and causing more than £40,000 of damage.

They even daubed the walls in graffiti, writing Satan and claiming the devil had sent them during the seven-hour siege at Deerbolt Young Offender's Institution, near Barnard Castle, County Durham, on February 13.

Teesside Crown Court heard that the six prisoners, all from Manchester, claimed there was a North-East and North-West divide between prisoners at the facility.

One of the youths involved was Desmond Noonan, the 19-year-old nephew of murdered Manchester gangster Desmond Noonan.

The gang, all aged 18 and 19, became angry at being moved to Deerbolt because it was too far away for family and friends to visit.

Peter Johnson, prosecuting, said trouble flared shortly after 9am during a service conducted by the Reverend Daniel Hartley. His congregation included 29 inmates and three Deerbolt staff.

During the service, a section of the congregation started shouting at the vicar and, before prison staff could react, the shocked vicar was pelted with chairs.

When the wardens ran to get re-enforcements, the inmates started to barricade themselves into the chapel, along with the other prisoners. Unwilling participants managed to escape from the siege by breaking a window.

Mr Johnson said: "The other inmates were completely shocked. One described the defendants as going mental.

"What ensued was a systematic destruction of the chapel.

"Some of the defendants were seen wearing the chaplain's vestments and carrying the altar cross."

Mr Johnson said the riot only came to an end, seven hours later, when wardens drafted in from other prisons stormed the building using stun grenades.

Barristers for the six said the riot had not been pre-planned and that the men were homesick. One of the inmates had not seen his family for 18 months because of the distance, they said.

All of the defendants pleaded guilty to prison mutiny.

Desmond Noonan, 19, Zico Reid, 18, Nathan Hogg, 18, and Ramone Brown, 19, all were sentenced to two-and-a-half years' detention.

Nathan Walters, now 20, was jailed for 18 months and Carlos Buller, 18, was given two years' detention.