Rival gang members jailed after brawl
Members of two rival biker gangs are this afternoon starting six-year sentences behind bars for their part in a mass brawl at Birmingham Airport.
Members of two rival biker gangs are this afternoon starting six-year sentences behind bars for their part in a mass brawl at Birmingham Airport.
A jury last month found eight men guilty of riot following a six-week trial and they will now serve 42 years between them.
The men, members of the Hell's Angels and the Outlaws motorcycle clubs, were involved in a fight involving up to 30 people at the airport last January.
Armed with knives, a machete and other weapons they battled inside the terminal building, after some of the gang members flew home on the same flight from Alicante.
They had been jointly charged with a further four men - three of whom were found not guilty. The jury failed to reach a verdict on the fourth man. All had denied a charge of riot and an alternative count of violent disorder.
Those sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court today were Hell's Angels Paul Arlett, 35, of Cradley Road, Dudley; Sean Timmins, 38 of Brewood Road, Coven and Leonard Hawthorne, 52 of Penn Road, Wolverhampton.
Outlaws Mark Price, 50, of Westbury Road, Nuneaton; Mark Moseley, aged 46 of Orchard Rise, Yardley, Birmingham; Jeremy Ball, 46, of Plant Street, Cheadle,
Staffordshire; Neale Harrison, aged 46, of Bell Green Road, Coventry were also failed.
Mark Larner, 47, of Tudor Road, Upper Gornal, failed to turn up at court for sentencing. It is believed he has fled to South Africa.
Judge Patrick Thomas QC has issued a warrant for his arrest and adjourned sentencing.
Despite their actions Judge Thomas described the bikers as "decent" men.
Sentencing, he said: "It gives me no pleasure at all to impose long prison sentences on men who are in many ways decent, honourable, hardworking family men, but your conduct gives me no choice."
During the trial the court heard the gangs clashed in what was described by the prosecution as a "free for all" at the airport, some of which was captured on CCTV.
The jury heard that the two biker gangs had a "long-standing rivalry" and a "historic" dislike of one another.
A number of weapons were found near the scene after the brawl, including three hammers, three knives, a machete and knuckledusters, as well as a meat cleaver.
The jury was also shown CCTV footage of some of the fighting, which took place in a linkway joining the two airport terminals close to where passengers emerge after clearing customs.
In some of the footage, travellers could be seen wheeling their suitcases just yards from where the brawl unfolded.
Sharon Rowe, Assistant Chief Constable in operations at West Midlands Police, added that it had been one of the most difficult investigations and court cases in the history of the force.
She said: "I'm pleased to see they have received significant sentences and will receive custodial sentences
"It is one of the most difficult investigations and court cases we've had in our history."
