Last updated at 11:20, Tuesday, 05 February 2013

Six people have appeared at Carlisle Crown Court in connection with an alleged affray which left a Carlisle nightclub manager fighting for his life.

Injuries: Tim Ip

They were all charged after 26-year-old Tim Ip was severely injured in the incident in the Lowther Arcade, which links Lowther Street with English Street in Carlisle, in the early hours of June 7.

Mr Ip, who had worked at Club Concrete in Lowther Street since 2004, suffered serious head injuries and was taken to the Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle, before later being transferred to the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI), in Newcastle.

In court, four men and one woman pleaded not guilty to affray – a charge that alleged they had used or threatened unlawful violence towards Mr Ip and that their conduct was such as would cause a person of reasonable firmness present at the scene to fear for his personal safety.

They were: Sean Carruthers, 30, of Sunnymeade, Carlisle; Joshua John O’Neil, 22, of Sandpiper Drive, Peterborough; Jodie Patricia O’Neil, 29, of Eldon House, Orchard Lane, Southampton; Lee O’Neil, 30, of Sandpiper Drive, Peterborough; Ricky Anthony O’Neil, 26, of Balmoral Court, Carlisle.

They will go on trial in the week of July 1.

Carruthers will be back in court for a further administrative hearing on March 4.

A sixth man – 20-year-old Connor O’Neil, 20, of Stonegarth, Morton, Carlisle – was with them in the dock, having previously pleaded guilty to the same charge.

He will be sentenced after verdicts are returned in the trial of those who have denied the charge.

All six were allowed bail on condition that they spent every night at their own homes.

First published at 11:16, Tuesday, 05 February 2013
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk