THIRTEEN men involved in a drunken brawl in a city centre pub were last night starting prison sentences for what a judge described as “frightening, disgraceful behaviour”.

The warring groups used glasses, chairs, tables and other furnishings as makeshift weapons as trouble flared in the Market Tavern pub, in Durham, on December 4, 2010.

Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday how a group from Darlington and Newcastle went into the pub, in the Market Place, where several men from Sunderland were drinking.

Arrests were made after CCTV footage from the pub – shown to the courtroom – was examined, and Durham Police appealed for information.

Yesterday, David Cook, 24, of Cromer Gardens, Newcastle, who was the subject of a suspended jail sentence at the time, was jailed for 21 months by Recorder David Bradshaw.

Barry John Hogan, 43, of Parkside, Darlington, who has previous convictions and was on licence recall from an earlier sentence, was jailed for 15 months.

Kevin Morgan, 36, of Bedford Street, Darlington, who has previous convictions for grievous bodily harm and violent disorder, also received a 15-month sentence.

Paul Brett, 29, of Yiewsley Drive, Shane Campbell, 19, of Teesway, Neasham, Jamie Carlin, 26, of Andrew Street, all Darlington, Joseph Casey, 29, of Howick Park, Sunderland, Jordan Dunbar, 20, of Ravenshill Road, Newcastle, and Glen Conley, 39, of Renfrew Road, Thomas Tansey, 42, of Raleigh Road, and Raymond Kennedy, 45, of Helmsley Court, all Sunderland, each received 12-month terms.

Quinn Robson, 18, of Lansdowne Street, Darlington, was given nine months, and a 17- year-old from Darlington, who cannot be named, received a six-month detention and training order.

Mr Recorder Bradshaw told the men – who all admitted violent disorder at earlier hearings – that the Newcastle and Darlington group went into the pub looking for Wearsiders.

“I have had the advantage of reading in each case a detailed and careful pre-sentence report.

In most cases they have been coupled with references from a number of individuals who speak highly in each case of the defendants,” said the judge.

“I have no doubt that what is said in those references is true.

I have no doubt that a large proportion of the defendants are, in the normal way of things, decent, hard-working men.

“I am also mindful that a sentence of custody in a number of cases will lead to jobs being lost, livings being taken away, and difficulties caused to families.

“But these are not matters which these men considered before they embarked on this conduct.”