Car used 'as weapon' in street fight

Officers were initially called to reports of fighting and a car being driven erratically

A man was repeatedly driven over and a woman reversed into when a car was used as a "weapon" in a street brawl.

Four men have been jailed over the attack, which happened on Carlisle's Gloucester Road last October and caused serious injuries to the victims.

Aaron Devaney, Nicholas Maxwell, Stuart Kendrick - all of no fixed abode - and Carlisle man Craig Metcalfe all pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm, with Maxwell also sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court for dangerous driving.

Det Con Emma Barker, from Cumbria Police, added it had been a pre-prepared attack "intent on causing injury".

The force began receiving reports of street fighting and erratic driving on Gloucester Road at about 06:00 BST on 23 October.

Officers subsequently found three people with "notable injuries" in a house on the street after hearing groaning.

A spokesman for the force said 34-year-old Maxwell had verbally abused someone in the same property earlier, before leaving and returning in a car with a gang of men in balaclavas.

They summoned their victim outside, where they launched an attack on the man, kicking him repeatedly in the head.

The group then got back into the vehicle and drove back and forth repeatedly, knocking the man to the ground before driving over him.

A woman was then reversed into and "pinned" to an alleyway wall by the car, before its driver sped away.

Both were left with a fractured pelvis and other injuries.

Bloodied hands

Maxwell, Metcalfe, Devaney and Kendrick were later found in a property on Silloth Street.

CCTV footage captured at that address showed four people, wearing balaclavas or otherwise covering their face, getting into a vehicle at about 06:00 and returning 19 minutes later.

The footage showed Devaney with blood on his hands, and the men reappearing having changed their clothes.

Metcalfe, 42, and Devaney, 35, were sentenced to three years and two months in prison for two counts of grievous bodily harm.

Kendrick, 42, was jailed for three years and six months for the same charges, while Maxwell was sentenced to four years and two months for two counts of grievous bodily harm and one count of dangerous driving.

Maxwell was also disqualified from driving, while all four were given criminal behaviour orders.