FOUR drunken louts ran amok in Darlington town centre, fighting each other and lashing out at others, a court heard.

The booze-fuelled battle began in a kebab shop but ended in the cells of Darlington police station.

The four men, Daniel Pascoe, 21, of Brighton Road, Darlington, John Branley, 31, of Thames Way, Darlington, Colin Younghusband, 30, of Shakespeare Road, Darlington, and Alan Scott, 32, also of Shakespeare Road, all pleaded guilty to affray.

At Teesside Crown Court on Friday, Shaun Dodds, prosecuting, described how events unfolded in the early hours of August 1 last year.

"At the core of this appears to be an altercation between the girlfriends of Pascoe and Branley in Tubwell Row," he said.

"This results in Pascoe and Branley having a fight in the street."

But the skirmish soon spiralled out of control, said Mr Dodds, when Pascoe picked up a bicycle and hurled it at a passing car. It narrowly missed the vehicle's windscreen.

In the meantime, Scott and Younghusband, friends of Branley, arrived on the scene.

Police officers arrived and were greeted with the sight of Pascoe being pushed by Scott into the path of their oncoming patrol car.

Both Branley and Younghusband were then seen lashing out, unsuccessfully, at other males.

All four men involved were then arrested and later interviewed by Darlington police.

Significantly, said Mr Dodds, the only people injured during the fight were the defendants themselves.

Kathryn Dodds, mitigating for Younghusband, said: "He brought the situation to his own door."

Warren Grier, for Scott, said: "Drink was very much at the heart of his involvement in this."

David Lamb, for Pascoe, said: "He is hard-working and comes across as a thoroughly respectable member of the community. It is difficult to equate that with his behaviour that night."

James Kemp, for Branley, asked Judge Les Spittle to go along with the recommendations of the Probation Service.

Judge Spittle said: "You were running around like drunken louts on the street. I am sick and tired of seeing it on television and hearing about it in the courtroom."

The men were each sentenced to a 12 month community order, with £15 costs each. Pascoe was also given a four month curfew.

Directing his closing words at Branley, whose phone had rung during the hearing, he said: "If they can afford to drink, and afford to run a mobile phone, they can afford to pay for this. There is no reason the public should foot the bill."