A COURT was yesterday shown video footage of a late-night brawl outside a North-East nightclub.

Darlington Magistrates saw how a fight broke out between three men outside Club 2K, in Beaumont Street, Darlington, at about 2.30am on September 24.

Graham Michael Boyle, 29, of Lansdowne Street, Darlington, was fined £50 and ordered to pay £100 costs after he pleaded guilty to using threatening behaviour. Sheila Moore, prosecuting, said security footage showed Boyle kicking a man while he was on the ground, and throwing punches at another.

She said: "The man lying on the ground posed no threat to him. This went beyond threatening behaviour, but neither of the other men have made complaints of assault."

Boyle's solicitor, Graham Hunsley, said his client had never disputed his actions, or that it was him caught on camera.

Mr Hunsley said the two other men were being abusive, and the fact that Boyle stood with his hands behind his head for much of the video showed that he was not the main aggressor. He said: "He was threatened with slashing, which may help to justify trying to keep the man on the ground."

He said that although Boyle had ten convictions for public order offences dating from 1993, it was seven years since his last one.