This is the moment a pub landlord tackled a top jockey and his two drunken friends with a pool cue after they attacked his regulars.

Barry Birch, 61, stepped in after former Grand National jockey Sean Quinlan and two of his friends threw punches at two other customers.

Shocking CCTV footage shows Quinlan, race horse trainer Paul O'Neill and their friend Luke Cooper attacking Martin Reeves and Adam Smith.

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WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

CCTV shows the moment jockey Sean Quinlan, race horse trainer Paul O'Neill and their friend Luke Cooper attacked customers in The Priory pub in Leek, Staffordshire

Brave landlord Barry Birch was forced to step in with a pool cue after the violence erupted in February

During the two minute video, they can be seen punching, kicking and throwing bar stools at the two victims while they lie helplessly on the floor.

In a desperate attempt to protect Mr Reeves and Mr Smith, landlord Mr Birch grabbed a wooden pool cue and hit the thugs, who then fled.

Violence flared at 11.30pm on February 13 after Quinlan and his friends walked into The Priory pub in Leek, Staffordshire.

Despite the video being played in court, the trio all walked free after they were handed suspended prison terms.

They had pleaded guilty to charges of affray at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court earlier this month.

Quinlan, 30, of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, was sentenced to a six-month suspended term, Cooper, 20, of Wetley Rocks, Staffordshire, was given three months, also suspended, and O'Neill, 34, of Swindon, Wiltshire, was sentenced to eight months, also suspended.

Mr Birch, whose wife Teena, 53, suffered a black eye in the violence, today hit out at the judge for not jailing the men.

Mr Birch (left) said the fight was the worst he has ever seen in a pub and slammed the suspended sentences given to Quinlan (right) and his two friends

Quinlan - seen as one of the top 30 national hunt jockeys in the country - got a six-month suspended sentence at Stoke on Trent Crown Court

Mr Birch said: 'I have no idea why they haven't been locked up, it was horrendous. It's as bad as it gets in a pub fight.

'I've never seen anything worse than that and we've been landlords for more than 35 years.

'This wasn't just your average pub fight, this was a sustained attack on two men who were down on the floor.

'I couldn't believe what was happening because they were on the ground and still being kicked.

'I've been working in pubs and clubs for more than 35 years and I've never seen anything so brutal and so unprovoked as this.'

Shocking CCTV images show violence erupting with kicks and punches thrown after a row in the Priory pub

Locals rushed to try and break up the fight as Quinlan and his friends O'Neill and Cooper piled in to the melee

The CCTV shows one of the attackers pick up a bar stool before bringing it crashing down on one of the victims

He added: 'If I hadn't stepped in to try to break it up they could have killed someone.'

His wife said: 'It's an insult that they have walked out of court effectively free men.

'The CCTV is absolutely horrific - the police officers said it was some of the worst they'd seen - and even the judge said it was disgraceful.

'If it hadn't been for Barry defending his regulars and himself it could have been much worse.

'The court heard they were responsible people with jobs, quite nice lads who just had too much to drink, but there's no excuse for what they did that night.'