Violent group involved in armed brawl in cemetery sentenced – live from court

Nine men who took part in shocking running battles in a cemetery while armed with knives, bats, hammers and bill hooks are to be sentenced today. Violence erupted at Swansea's Morriston Cemetery last August as rival factions of an extended family clashed during a graveside blessing. Vehicles were also used as weapons during the disturbance and were driven at speed around the site, churning up grass and damaging a number of gravestones.

At one point mourners attending a funeral at the cemetery had to run to their cars for safety as the brawling armed men ran amok. A number of the men then entered the remembrance room where they hid a baseball bat among the floral displays, disturbing and knocking over the flowers as they did so. One of the men then spat on the floor of the room.

The violence was the latest clash in an ongoing feud between rival members of an extended traveller family which has seen disturbances across south Wales.

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Nine mine aged between 18 and 58 are due to be sentenced at Swansea Crown Court today for their involvement in the cemetery incident. They are:

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