THREE men from Abingdon who attack- ed a group of soldiers in a pub with chairs and a table have been jailed.

Friends Jason Tripp and Luke Berry, both 21, and Craig Pitts, 20, were involved in the drunken fight at The Bystander in Wootton, near Abingdon, on April 29.

All three admitted affray at an earlier hearing.

Ross Sampford, 28, of Quarry Road, Bayworth, near Abingdon, who also admitted affray, was given a community sentence.

At Oxford Crown Court on Monday, Pitts also admitted breaching an antisocial behaviour order (Asbo), while Tripp, of Larkhill Road, admitted affray and criminal damage in relation to a separate incident in Abingdon in September.

Tripp also admitted breaching a suspended nine-month prison sentence, which he was given on June 29 for ABH, while Berry admitted breaching a suspended six-week prison sentence, handed to him in October last year for battery.

The attack left victims Sean Kearney, 21, Steve Foster, 23, John Gaiger, 38, and Chris Dawson, 21, with various bruises and cuts.

Mr Kearney was also knocked out and suffered a broken nose.

Richard Sharpe, prosecuting, said Pitts, of Thornley Close, caused the altercation in the pub’s smoking area after he and a friend had hugged following a disagreement.

He said one of the soldiers, who are all members of the Royal Logistic Corps, had remarked: “Ah, isn’t that sweet?”

Mr Sharpe added: “Asked ‘do you have a problem?’, the soldiers said ‘no’.”

Pitts then went inside the pub to gather his friends and returned to the smoking area.

Mr Sharpe said: “Pitts throws a punch into the melee, then punches a member of staff to the floor. Then he picks up a heavy bar chair and hurls it into the group of men. He also accepts kicking Mr Kearney while he was unconscious on the floor.

“Berry throws one punch. Tripp causes the initial broken nose with a headbutt and throws a chair and a table. Sampford throws punches into the group.”

In a separate incident on September 18, Tripp was walking with two men in Vineyard, Abingdon, when he kicked a broken-down Nissan Micra being wheeled across the road by Adrian Rowe, Mr Sharpe said.

The group, including Tripp, then aimed punches and kicks at Mr Rowe before being chellenged by two passers-by.

Stephen Bailey, defending Tripp, said his client, who has 11 convictions for 15 previous offences, has “an acute problem with drink married with depression and difficulty, frankly even when sober, with anger management”.

Lucy Tapper, defending Pitts, said her client’s record of nine convictions for 18 previous offences was “borne out of drinking too much”.

David Hislop, defending Berry, said his client, who has 21 convictions for 31 previous offences, was “on the periphery” of the incident.

Mark Dixon, defending father-of-three Sampford, said his client “became involved in a fight that was none of his business”.

Tripp got 27 months’ jail, Pitts got 21 months and Berry, of Mill Road, nine months and four weeks, while Sampford was ordered to do 200 hours’ unpaid work, given a 12-month supervision order and made to pay £400 costs.

Judge Anthony King said: “Each of you has got to grow up, control your drinking and behave yourself.”