9:40am Monday 30th April 2012
By Megi Rychlikova
FIVE men have admitted being part of a mob attack on a York house.
They are now awaiting sentence after pleading guilty to being involved in the incident in Tang Hall, which led police to step up patrols in the area to reassure residents.
The men, all in their 20s and from York, were arrested by armed police who had been called to a family home in Etty Avenue on February 16.
Alan Mitcheson, prosecuting, told York Crown Court that attackers used weapons to threaten the occupants of the house, which they also used to damage inside and outside the property.
Stine Wilson, 26, and Nathan Wilson, 24, both of Wykeham House, Lowther Street, The Groves; Daniel Ernest Barker, 22, of Bowes Avenue, Tang Hall, and Wilson Fitch-Binks, 23, of Fifth Avenue, Tang Hall, all admitted affray and were remanded in custody.
Fitch-Binks denied carrying a knife in public and the other three denied carrying metal bars in public.
Mr Mitcheson said the attack had been a joint enterprise, and it was not in the public interest to have a special hearing to decide exactly who carried which weapons.
He accepted the pleas and the case was adjourned for sentence until May 31.
Probation officers will now prepare pre-sentence reports on the four men and their co-accused, Daniel Anthony Dougherty, 28, of Fifth Avenue, Tang Hall.
He admitted a public order offence and was given bail on condition he lives at a Scarborough address, does not come inside the York outer ring road and does not contact directly or indirectly prosecution witnesses.
As previously reported, the window in the front door of the property and windows of a car outside were smashed in the confrontation.
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