westoelad wrote:bigfluffylemon wrote:Not guilty plea and referred to Crown court. Per sussex's comment above, that implies a high probability of jail time if found guilty.
Certainly would be if he'd been charged with ABH or GBH but for some reason he hasn't.
I don't know anything about the law so my interpretation might be wrong but these sentencing guidelines , from The Times article when he was first charged , make me think a custodial sentence is highly unlikely :
Affray is a public order offence, under the Public Order Act 1986, in which two or more people use or threaten unlawful violence against another. It carries a maximum penalty when tried at magistrates court of a fine or up to six months in prison. If tried at crown court, the judge would have the option of sentencing him to three years in prison.
Sentencing guidelines state that a custodial sentence “must not be imposed” unless the offence or a combination of offences are so serious that neither a fine nor a community sentence can be justified. The guidelines stress that there is no general definition of this threshold and that even where it is believed to have been met, judges should consider a community order