Everyone was watching the Euros - then he pulled out a knife and caused chaos

“I accept that, at the time, this action was excessive in the circumstances.”

A man pulled out a knife and threatened to stab two men during a chaotic brawl outside a pub just as an England victory at the Euros was being sealed.

Ewan Hughes, of Lowther Court in Prestwich, was standing outside the Stocks Hotel in Worsley on June 29, 2021 just as England triumphed against Germany in their Euros 2020 clash. Moments before celebrations were about to kick off, Manchester Crown Court at Crown Square heard how chaos ensued outside the pub.

Hughes, who was 21-years-old at the time, claimed he was approached by two men who began being ‘hostile’ towards him, ‘because of an incident the week before’ which involved a friend of Hughes’.

Hughes says he ‘feared for his safety’ as the two men ‘backed him into a corner’ while he was suffering from a broken collarbone and had his arm in a sling, said a statement from Hughes read out in court. “I pulled out a knife I was carrying and held it at waist height,” continued the statement.

“I accept that, at the time, this action was excessive in the circumstances.”

Hughes then threatened to stab the pair if they got any closer, heard the court.

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“The knife did not deter [the two men], [they] armed themselves with a golf club and attacked,” added Jess Foster, prosecuting.

The other two men have since received suspended sentences after pleading guilty to their parts in the violence, the court heard.

A security guard at the pub was forced to intervene and try to restrain the brawling group. “This incident was extremely alarming,” said the security guard in a statement also read out in court.

“I felt very threatened, particularly when these males brandished weapons which I genuinely believed they would use on me or other people. I feared for my life, it was very frightening but I was trying to restrain these males to protect everyone else.

“I tried my best but I was very scared.”

Defending, Bob Sastry, told the court that Hughes has ‘matured’ since the incidents took place and that he had stopped associating with the individuals related to the trouble.

But imprisonment was ‘inevitable’, said Judge Alan Conrad KC, as Hughes had committed the offences after being given a suspended sentence just months earlier, in March of 2021.

Hughes, now 25 and working as a labourer, was sentenced to 12 months in prison for possession of a bladed article, affray and dangerous driving. The dangerous driving was a separate incident, taking place on November 20, 2021.