Patrick Ward and Zack Kelly get prison time for forcing into Tiki Taps with weapons; incident on Railway Road.
The two men forced their way into Tiki Taps, a bar on Railway Road, on November 8. A staff member was locking up when they arrived.
Ward, age 24, and Kelly, age 26, had been chasing men down Railway Road. They entered the bar and showed their weapons.
Ward wore a balaclava and aimed a crossbow at someone. The CCTV footage showed him by the door and police found a crossbow bolt inside the bar. It is unknown if Ward fired it.
Kelly, from Little Hulton, waved a knife around and tried to stab the victim, who used a chair to defend themselves.
Then, the pair ran away from the bar. Kelly ran up the road with two knives and police chased after him in a vehicle.
Police arrested Kelly that night, and Ward was arrested three days later. He hid behind a sofa at his home in Darwen.
Police did not find the crossbow, but they did locate a knife at Ward’s flat.
The judge heard little to help their case. Judge Preston mentioned their guilty pleas, stating it was almost all they had. He called it a serious act which endangered the public.
Bringing weapons like these is dangerous and can cause serious harm or even death.