A COURT heard how all hell broke loose when drunken women started fighting outside a Leominster pub.
Injuries from the terrifying brawl ranged from a broken nose to torn-out hair - and when men became involved it made things worse.
Teresa Lawence, Nigel Cramp and Lisa Tompkins admitted affray for what they did on the night. But Hereford Crown Court was told that many others ought to have been in the dock with them.
Mother-of-three Lawrence, aged 31, of Ridgemoor Road, Leominster, and Cramp, 31, of Coombes Moor, Presteigne, received 14-week suspended prison sentences and were ordered to complete 140 hours of community work.
Tompkins, a 32-year-old mother of two, from Cheaton Close, Leominster, received a 14-week suspended prison sentence and an 18-month community supervision order.
Glyn Samuel, prosecuting, said witnesses described how "all hell let loose" in Etnam Street, Leominster, when "extremely drunk" women started fighting outside The Bell pub.
The violence, in July last year, was sparked by an altercation inside the packed pub that led to Lawrence having a pint of beer tipped over her head.
It went on for several minutes, as others, including men, became involved. A police investigation identified Lawrence, Cramp and Tompkins as being prominent in the melee.
All three said that were trying to play a peacemaking part but accepted their subsequent "self-defence" went too far when they should have walked away.
William Rickarby, for Lawrence, said that many others should have been in the dock with the three defendants.
Judge David Matthews told the three that they had acted together to engage in group violence that was "terrifying" to those who saw it.
