Tanner brothers brawled in Pure Lounge Bar (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Paul and Matthew Tanner fought in and outside Pure Lounge Bar

9:18am Monday 1st October 2012 in Local By Chris Gregory

A FIGHT between two brothers in a Basingstoke bar was so violent that it took several people to separate the pair, a court heard.

Paul Tanner attacked his brother Matthew Tanner inside and outside Pure Lounge Bar, in Wote Street, on July 29 this year.

The 32-year-old, of St Peter’s Road, South Ham, Basingstoke, appeared at North Hampshire Magistrates’ Court, having previously pleaded guilty to a public order offence.

Dan O’Neill, prosecuting, said that the fight started at 1am when Matthew Tanner intervened in an argument between his brother and his brother’s girlfriend.

He said: “They were both throwing punches at each other. A member of the door staff describes that he got in between them and tried to separate them, and it took five or six members of staff to do just that.”

Mr O’Neill said Paul Tanner was seen as the aggressor. He was restrained and asked to leave.

But he returned moments later and was seen to push his brother’s partner Michaela McLaughlin to the ground, which sparked another fight between the two brothers. Police officers were then called.

Jo Coomber, defending, said: “The fight was over something trivial. Unfortunately, both young men had too much to drink, which is why it escalated the way that it did.”

She added that the brothers have seen each other at family events since the fight and there had not been any trouble.

Presiding magistrate Brenda Thompson sentenced Paul Tanner, a father-of-two, to 12 weeks in jail, suspended for 12 months, with a thinking skills course requirement.