Nine in court following alleged violence involving Celtic and Hibs fans in Carlisle

Nine men have appeared in court accused of violent disorder after an alleged disturbance involving rival Scottish Premiership football supporters inside a Carlisle pub.

The city’s magistrates’ court heard that weapons were allegedly brandished and objects thrown during the incident at Gallagher’s Irish Bar, Botchergate.

This is alleged to have occurred just before 3pm on Saturday 23 October last year, when disorder is said to have broken out involving Celtic and Hibernian supporters.

Nine men each face a charge of violent disorder. This alleges that they “used or threatened unlawful violence” when present with three or more people, and that “the conduct taken together was such as would cause a person of reasonable firmness present at the scene to fear for his or her personal safety."

The men were separated into groups of three and six for their appearances in front of magistrates.

Members of an alleged Hibernian contingent appearing in court were Sean McNulty, aged 43, of Glenure Loan, Edinburgh; Steven Rintoul, 48, East Main Street, Uphall, Broxburn; and, remotely over a video link, Andrew Whitson, aged 38, of John Knox Road, Longniddry, East Lothian.

Six men in court accused of being part of the Celtic group are twins Kieran Ewing and Owen Ewing, both aged 31 of Woodside Road, Stirling; James Manley, aged 29, of Borthwick Street, Glasgow; Andrew Currie, aged 25, of Brownsdale Road, Rutherglen, Glasgow; Michael Morton, aged 27, of Oak Street, Stirling, and William Gerry, aged 30, of Laurencecroft Road, Stirling.

Each of the nine men spoke to confirm their names, dates of birth and addresses, and also to confirm that they would be entering no pleas to the violent disorder charge at this stage.

After hearing an outline of the allegation from a prosecutor, magistrates declined jurisdiction of the case and sent it to Carlisle Crown Court.

The nine men are next due to appear there in front of a judge on Friday 4 November. Until then, each man was granted unconditional bail.