Goodwood Fighters Face Prison Sentences

Goodwood Fight

On Tuesday 11 men were sentenced to jail totalling nine years after the brawl that took place at Goodwood racecourse in May 2018.

With the prison time for the men involved they have also been banned from all British racecourses after the brutal scenes that took place at the Sussex track.

Only nine people have been handed jail sentences but in videos that have surfaced around social media it shows close to fifty people being involved in one of the worst showings of violence and public disorder at a racetrack.

Sussex Police overall after the offence had occurred made 12 arrests that saw later on 11 people charged. Nine of these defendants went on to plead Guilty to violent disorder at an earlier hearing, Lesley Sharp, 50, pleaded guilty to assault by beating and Kyle Binns, 27, pleaded guilty to affray on Tuesday at Guildford Crown Court.

The biggest sentence of the hearing was handed to James Whitlock, 27, who was given two years for his part in the melee.

The nine men that received prison sentences will serve a reduced amount of time as they have already served time under a tagged curfew order.

Two of the 11 men were handed different deals in the process with Darius Wharton, 19, was handed a suspended sentence, whilst Lesley Sharp was given the decision to pay a fine or spend time inside prison.

The Goodwood brawl saw the worst of mass fight at a racecourse ever seen but in later weeks was followed up at Ascot in what was a crisis time for British racing and punters that were attending race meetings.

The track's managing director Adam Waterworth was pleased that the matter was over and justice was served to the people involved in the incident.

(Credit Racing Post) He said: "We are delighted that the evidence we provided has helped secure an appropriately serious sentence for the perpetrators of this incident. We take a zero-tolerance stance on anti-social behaviour here at Goodwood and, to support this, we installed an extensive CCTV network across the course a few years ago, which helped us provide clear footage to Sussex Police of the incident.

"This sends out a strong message to the public – anti-social behaviour is not welcome at Goodwood, and we will continue to be vigilant so racegoers can enjoy the best possible experience when they come racing with us."

(Credit - The Wrong'uns)