Teenager Jason Fox was sentenced to 12 months in a youth offenders institute after admitting smashing a metal bar or snooker cue over his victim's head.

Preston Crown Court heard how up to 20 armed youths and men travelled to St Annes from Warton to "sort out" a rival gang following an earlier fight.

They pulled up on Wood Street and launched an attack on a group who they found in St Annes Square.

Passing sentence, Judge Michael Byrne told the defendants: "Street violence of this sort is totally unacceptable. It is regrettably all too prevalent nowadays.

"People are not entitled to take the law into their own hands and seek revenge or retaliation to resolve real or perceived grievances against others.

"The pack mentality, group loyalty and the influence of peers collectively in a violent, threatening or aggressive group can present a terrifying experience to people in the street."

The court heard how the terrifying incident happened in January last year.

The victim threw a bottle at the gang as he was backing away. Witnesses said Fox leapt from a car and smashed him around the head with the bar.

He collapsed and was kicked to the head by another member of the gang as he lay on the ground, drifting in and out of consciousness.

A hospital scan later revealed he had a fractured skull.

Benjamin Lawrence, defending Fox, 19, said his client had delivered a single blow.

He added: "It cannot be said on the evidence that he is responsible for all the injuries"

Kyle Colino, 22, of Beech Avenue, Warton, received a 12-month prison sentence after admitting his part in the fight and another incident where he punched a 61-year-old man in October 2008, breaking his jaw.

Joshua Schofield, 19, of Lytham Road, Warton, also pleaded guilty to violent disorder and a separate wounding in February last year when he punched another man, breaking two of teeth.

He was given 58 weeks custody, suspended for two years, with 12 months supervision and 60 hours unpaid work and pay £1,000 compensation.

Dominic Hodson, 19, of Hodgson Avenue, Freckleton, admitted violent disorder and received 32 weeks custody, suspended for two years, with 12 months supervision and 60 hours unpaid work.

Ciaran Rankin, for Colino, said he felt genuine remorse over the wounding and had been at the fight in possession of a weapon, but did not use it.