A GANG of men attacked a house mob-handed with weapons, a court heard.

A woman and her daughter fled to the upper storey of their home and rang 999 as the four young men tried to break down their front door, said Robert Stevenson, prosecuting.

The mother had seen Benjamin Fox as he stood on top of a nearby shed looking into her garden and asked him what he was doing.

He knew her daughter and threatened to bring others to break into the family’s house.

Half an hour later, Fox and three others with baseball bats, and possibly a metal bar, battered on her front door until it was broken and had come away from its frame.

The four left without getting into the house but police stopped them nearby in a car with potential weapons including a baseball bat, golf club and metal tube in its boot, said Mr Stevenson at York Crown Court.

Judge Simon Fox told the four: “This was a disgraceful episode. Obviously there was some dispute in the background ..... but it is not for a private citizen to sort out the mess in that way.

“It is for the courts to sort it out.”

He told Fox: “You were the one leading the mob and you were the ringleader.”

Fox, now 19, of Pottery Lane, York, was given a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months with 200 hours’ unpaid work.

Joseph John Patrick Ward, now 23, of Pottery Lane, York, was given a seven-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months with 100 hours’ unpaid work. Both he and Fox accepted they had weapons with them.

Conlon, now 19, of Roche Avenue, off Huntington Road, York, was given eight months suspended for 12 months with 150 hours’ unpaid work, as was William Wilson Fitch, now 19. Both did not accept they were carrying weapons but did accept they were part of a group that had weapons.

All four pleaded guilty to affray and were ordered to pay £100 compensation each. Each was also ordered to do 10 days’ rehabilitative activities as part of their sentence, except Conlon, who had previous convictions for robbery and attempted robbery and was ordered to do 20 days’ rehabilitative activities.

Mark Partridge for Fox said he had matured since the incident on April 24, 2017, and was now leading a law abiding life.

Lawyers for the others indicated they would give similar mitigations, but did not do so after the judge indicated he would suspend all the prison sentences.