A TEENAGER involved in a major disturbance outside an Eden pub has been told he was lucky not to be sent to prison.

Luwis Dobinson, 18, was one of five men arrested after the fight between groups from Penrith and Kirkby Stephen outside the Golden Fleece, Brough, on July 16 last year.

Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson told Carlisle Crown Court he punched to the ground a man who tried to stop him “viciously” punching a 17-year-old.

Dobinson, of Bridge Street, Penrith, was originally charged with affray – an offence that carries a possible three-year prison sentence.

But earlier this month that charge was dropped when, with the agreement of the Crown Prosecution Service, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of threatening behaviour instead.

Recorder Kevin Talbot told him he was “extremely fortunate” that his plea to the lesser offence had been accepted.

“You have been allowed to plead guilty to an offence that goes nowhere near the behaviour that you demonstrated on that night,” he said.

“You have had the most enormous good fortune. It was grotesque antisocial behaviour.

"It should have been and always was a serious offence of affray.”

Dobinson – who had been assessed by probation officers as 93 per cent likely to commit further offences of violence – was given a 12 month community order and made to do 125 hours unpaid work.