TWO men who started a drunken playfight in a Crewkerne pub let things spiral out of control and ended up being ejected from the premises.

At one point Luke Adey and Joseph James Bushnell ended up falling on top of two women who were sat on a sofa enjoying a drink.

Then when staff tried to remove them from the pub they started flailing their arms, punches were thrown and the situation descended into a general melee.

Adey, 23, of Popular Estate, Highbridge and Bushnell, 26, of Seavington-St-Michael, pleaded guilty that on July 8 last year at the Kings Arms, Market Square, they used towards another threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause them to believe that violence would be used against them.

District Judge David Taylor, sitting at Yeovil, was told that the pair went to the Kings Arms in Crewkerne shortly before midnight and both had been drinking.

“They went to the bar and talked with the locals and then Adey started doing some shadow boxing and started mock fighting with Bushnell,” said prosecutor Julyan Stephens.

“It then developed into a play fight and then they started wrestling and landed on two women who were sat on a sofa.

“Things escalated and a number of people at the bar and staff decided to bundle them out and forcibly removed them from the bar and there was lots of flailing of arms.”

Mr Stephens said there was not a direct attack on staff or members of the public but the two defendants lashed out as they didn’t want to be removed from the pub.

Once they were outside Bushnell came back through the door and Adey eventually managed to pull him back out and they walked off up the road.

Defending, Paul Light said that the defendants did not intend at the outset to affect anyone else and said it was just “stupid drunken behaviour”.

“When other people became involved they both reacted and they have both now accepted responsibility,” he said.

“Clearly it got to the stage that people believed that violence could be coming their way and they have now apologised for that.”

District Judge Taylor told the defendants that they had displayed “disgraceful conduct” which was “completely unjustified” and sentenced them both to a 10 week curfew order.

During that time they must remain at their home addresses between 7pm and 6am daily while electronically tagged.

They were also both ordered to pay £85 costs and an £85 victim surcharge.