TEN people have appeared before York Magistrates' Court accused of being involved in large scale city centre violence.

All were charged in connection with an afternoon brawl at Judge's Lodging on a day when York City had a home match against Chester City.

Six of the accused come from Cheshire or North Wales, and four from York. All face a charge of violent disorder in the hotel’s front beer garden on October 22, 2016.

Nine of the defendants declined to enter a plea. The tenth, Daniel Sharples, 22, of Ewloe, Deeside, near Chester, pleaded guilty.

District judge Adrian Lower ordered probation officers to prepare a pre-sentence report on him and committed his case for sentence to York Crown Court.

The other nine were sent for trial at the same court before a judge and jury.

All 10 were released on bail and will make their first appearance on January 19.

On that date, the nine who have not entered a plea will have to do so.

Police in uniform attended the court hearing and the six from Chester and North Wales appeared in the courtroom separately from the four from York.

All were represented by lawyers, all of whom agreed that the case was too serious for the magistrates court.

The nine who didn’t enter a plea were: Lewis Griffiths, 18, of Wellington Road, Broughton, Ben Wilcox, 19, of Crown Estate, Lloc, and Noel Hughes, 62, of Cable Court, Cwrt Cable, High Street, Connah’s Quay, all of Flintshire, North Wales; Tom Melia, 21, of Hope Farm Road, Great Sutton, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, Kyle O’Gorman, 24, of Tennyson Walk, Chester, Darren Leslie Cummings, 43, of Lindsey Avenue, Acomb, David Michael Ellis, 33, of Pottery Lane, off Malton Road, York, Jordan Stephen Willoughby, 24, of Board Street, South Bank, York, and James Michael Windass, 52, of Tennant Road, Acomb. ?