A man and woman have appeared in court admitting their part in a barroom brawl at a Port Erin pub.

Ben Jon Morrey Parsons, aged 30, and Bethany Storm Radcliffe, who is 20, both pleaded guilty to disorderly behaviour on licensed premises.

Radcliffe hit a man in the head with a stool during the fracas.

Parsons was fined £150 for the offence, while Radcliffe’s sentencing was adjourned until March 9 for a probation report to be prepared with input from mental health services.

A third party alleged to have been involved, Benjamin Francis Lloyd, aged 32, of Brookhill Road, Ramsey, appeared in court on January 20 denying the same allegation.

He is due to face a pre-trial review in summary court on March 16.

Prosecuting advocate Barry Swain told the court that the incident took place at the Riddler Under the Nest bar in Port Erin on May 8 last year.

At 12.15am, Radcliffe, who lives at Pairk Ollay in Ramsey, and Mr Lloyd were standing by a fruit machine when Parsons went to pass them via a small gap.

Words were said to have been exchanged and it is alleged that Mr Lloyd pushed Parsons, which then resulted in them squaring up, and pushing and grabbing each other.

The disagreement was then said to have moved into the toilets and then to the smoking area.

Parsons, who lives at Bay View Road in Port Erin, was said to have pushed Mr Lloyd several times and thrown a punch at him during the scuffle.

Radcliffe then threw a plastic cup at Parsons before picking up a bar stool and hitting him in the head with the legs.

Other customers then intervened to break up the brawl, before police arrived.

During a police interview Radcliffe answered ‘no comment’ to questions, while Parsons said he had no recollection of the incident, then also answered ‘no comment’ to further questions.

Mr Lloyd claimed he was acting in self-defence.

Defence advocate Jane Gray, representing Radcliffe, asked for an adjournment so that a probation report could be prepared with input from mental health services.

Bail was granted for her in the sum of £250.

Sara-Jayne Dodge represented Parsons and said that the incident was an exchange of words which had got out of hand.

Ms Dodge asked for credit to be given for her client’s guilty plea and said that Parsons had not made the first contact.

‘Despite that, he accepts there was an opportunity to leave. He came off worse having been repeatedly hit with a stool as well as being pushed and punched,’ said the advocate.

Ms Dodge went on to say that her client had no previous convictions and it had now been almost nine months since the offence, with no further incidents. Magistrates also ordered Parsons to pay £50 costs at a rate of £20 per week.