A JUDGE decried four young men who set upon a group of innocent students for reflecting their home area "in a bad light".

Three Durham University undergraduates were making their way through the city centre in the early hours when they came across the quartet attacking a defenceless victim on the ground in Silver Street.

Durham Crown Court heard that one of the students, sitting astride a bicycle, inquired what was happening and was told it was none of his business, before being punched.

The bike was taken from him, and blows were aimed at the other students, despite insisting they did not want trouble.

Beatrice Bolton, prosecuting, said the group told police they had been drinking heavily.

Michael Quinn, 20, Richard Smith, 18, and 21-year-olds Michael Scott and James Lester Gray, all from South Hetton, east Durham, each admitted affray.

Scott, of Charles Crescent, who also admitted burglary and resisting arrest, was jailed for a year.

Quinn, of Quinn Place, who also admitted theft of the bike, was given a nine-month sentence in a young offenders' institution.

Gray, of Charters Crescent, who was said to have played a lesser role in events, was given a two-year community rehabilitation order, formerly known as a probation order.

Sentence on Smith, of Quinn Square, was adjourned for a medical report.

Passing sentence, Judge Denis Orde told them: "It really doesn't show any of you, or this city, in a very good light, when students who come from other areas should be set upon like that."