MICHAEL CARROLL, a former dustman who won £9.7 million on the Lotto, was jailed for nine months yesterday after he and three friends ran amok with baseball bats at a Christian rock concert.
Two concert-goers needed hospital treatment and others prayed for their lives when the gang stormed the gig at Downham Market Town Hall in Norfolk. Carroll, 22, and his friend David Howard, 24, who was jailed for 18 months, pleaded guilty to affray last month. Howard’s brother Paul, 19, admitted the charge at an earlier hearing and was jailed for six months. A fourth man has never been identified.
Last month Norwich Crown Court was told that the trio invaded the concert after two teenage girls they knew had been in an argument outside.
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Richard Potts, for the prosecution, told the court that the girls, who are now aged 15 and 17, had punched another girl and had thrown noodles and drink in her face. The girls, who cannot be named, each admitted a charge of threatening behaviour and received a conditional discharge.
Inside the venue, two party-goers, including David Norman, the organiser of the event, were attacked. Mr Potts said that one of the girls, Carroll and his friends were captured on closed-circuit television barging their way in. “Mr Norman heard the girl pointing someone else out and he was then punched, causing him to fall to the ground,” he said.
Sentencing Carroll, Judge Jacobs said: “You went along to exact some form of retribution. A large number of people were terrified about what went on. This sort of behaviour cannot be tolerated.”