Couple sentenced for retaliation during school fight

A fight broke out between two groups of adults in retaliation for a fight between schoolchildren in a playground, a court heard.

Leigh Coulson went to another woman's house in Sunderland with a group of men after the women's teenage sons got into a minor altercation at school, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Coulson, 35, admitted the fight, along with his associate Jack Quinn, 29.

Both were given community orders lasting 18 months.

Prosecutor Kevin Wardlaw said Coulson, of Gordon Terrace in Sunderland, was part of a convoy of two cars and four men who drove to a woman's home in the Hylton area at around 4:00 p.m. GMT on November 29 .

He said there had been a “dispute” between the two women's teenage sons and there were ongoing “misunderstandings” between the families.

Child present

When the cars stopped, the victim got out to confront Coulson and there was then “a short scuffle or scuffle between the two women”, Mr Wardlaw said.

Two men came out of the woman's house, one armed with a bat, and there were “gestures and a confrontation” between the two groups before the three men who arrived with Quinn and Coulson “ran” towards the house and a “fight” ensued” while a small child was present, the court heard.

Quinn, who was driving one of the cars, jumped over a fence to chase the woman as she fled into her garden, Mr Wardlaw said.

In the melee, the woman's car was damaged, although neither Quinn nor Coulson was the cause, the court heard.

“Very bad idea”

In mitigation for both men, Nicholas Lane said trouble broke out between the families after Coulson's long-term partner was jailed for 10 years, causing an “element of targeting” to his against.

He said it had “made life incredibly difficult” and caused Coulson “anxiety and stress”, and that “the minor incident between two teenagers in the school playground was the last straw.” “the water that broke the camel's back.”

Mr Lane said Coulson “accepts in hindsight” that it was a “very bad idea” to go and speak to the other mother, but that she “did not intend or anticipate that the incident escalates from the manner in which it occurred.”

He added that Quinn, of Redmond Square in Southwick, had said he was “worried” about Coulson, but admitted there could be “no excuse for his behavior for what came next”.

Recorder Georgina Nolan warned both men they could have been jailed, but said due to the mitigating circumstances a community order would be appropriate.

Quinn, who also admitted driving without insurance or a license, was also given six penalty points.

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