Gang injunction pair jailed again
TWO men who smashed up a Skelmersdale pub have been sentenced after breaching a gang injunction.
Joel Dowling and Steven Grimes had been given the injunction banning them from contacting each other and other associates and from being in groups of more than two in public places or cars.
It came after a succession of anti-social incidents culminated in the pair throwing pint glasses and chairs around the Elmridge Arms pub in September before trying to punch and threaten a man with a knife.
They then went missing and prompted appeals from police who described them as “Skelmersdale’s most wanted”.
They were eventually caught and locked up before being given the gang injunction.
But the pair failed to comply with the restrictions, continuing to contact each other and being seen together in Skelmersdale after their release from prison.
Dowling, 23, also failed to inform police of a change of address.
They were arrested and brought back to court last week where Grimes, 22, of Danbers, Upholland, was jailed for 52 days. Dowling, of no fixed address, was given a 42-day sentence suspended for 12 months but returned to prison anyway as licence was revoked.
A Lancashire police spokesman said: “The injunction will still be in place when Grimes and Dowling are released from prison, with restrictions in place preventing the men engaging in any abusive, threatening or intimidating conduct, threatening to use or encouraging others to use violence, as well as congregating in a public place in a group of two or more people.” his