Binge-drinkers have been told they face going to prison if they get drunk and involved in fights.

A judge issued the warning after he locked up four men involved in a drunken incident at a Colchester taxi office.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard the four had been drinking heavily before the incident last summer.

One of them had drunk ten pints of strong lager and five whiskies while another had nine pints of lager and "a number" of shorts, the court heard.

The four were locked up for a total of two years after they admitted charges of affray and threatening behaviour.

Judge Michael Kay QC told them: "Young men going out for the evening think they can drink as much as they like and then abuse anybody that gives them an opportunity to do so.

"It seems to be accepted these days that if you drink too much and end up in a fight, courts will accept this as par for the course. This court will not. This was the sort of incident which happens time and again in our towns and the message must go out that courts will treat incidents like this seriously."

Richard Potts, prosecuting, said trouble flared at the Five Sevens taxi office, in St John's Street, Colchester, in the early hours of July 3 last year.

Two men, Elliott Gibbons and Duncan Thomas, were punched during the fracas and received hospital treatment for cuts and bruises.

In court, Daniel Finch, 20, of Chapel Street, Rowhedge, and Wayne Macklin, 21, of Defoe Crescent, Colchester admitted threatening behaviour and were jailed for four months each.

Daniel Moncur, 23, of Hillview Close, Rowhedge, and Christopher Thrower, 20, of Colne Rise, Rowhedge, both admitted affray and were jailed for eight months.

Defence barristers said the four had drunk too much and were ashamed of their behaviour.

Another man facing sentence in connection with the incident was not in court. Glen Macklin, 27, of Rectory Road, Rowhedge, will be sentenced later this week.

More in today's Evening Gazette

Published Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Brought to you by the Evening Gazette