A 53-year-old woman ‘old enough to know better’ and her son and daughter have both been sentenced for their role in an attack which left a man with nerve damage.

Carol O’Reilly and her children James, 29, and Chloe, 31, who are both parents themselves, appeared at Bradford Crown Court on Monday to be sentenced for the violent altercation in the Bradford area in the summer of 2021.

They and a fourth defendant, Gareth Shaw, 31, targeted victim Mark Lowery and his brother David at their home in revenge for a serious assault on a member of the O’Reilly family.

After initially asking David to provide an address of a man suspected of injuring their relative – who was later charged with attempted murder – the family managed to lure the two men out of the property, whereupon James punched Mark, fracturing his eye socket. The 45-minute incident was caught on the Lowerys’ Ring doorbell camera.

The O'Reilly family were sentenced at Bradford Crown Court

The court was told that the family, all of Shipley, are of generally good character and in employment – with James working as a HGV driver, Carol caring for her sick husband and Chloe a single mother of three children. All had expressed remorse for the harm caused to Mark Lowery, who has died from cancer since the attack.

James O’Reilly pleaded guilty to GBH and the other defendants admitted affray. James was also accused of kicking the victim’s head, but CCTV evidence proved inconclusive as to whether the act had been intentional. The two women had ‘encouraged’ the violence and all were ‘part of the general melee’.

The group believed David Lowery, who had been arrested before the confrontation, to be responsible for the attack on their relative, who was hospitalised with a bleed to the brain, but Recorder Catherine Silverton clarified that this was ‘explanation rather than justification’ for their behaviour.

James O’Reilly was jailed for 19 months suspended for two years and ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work. Chloe, Carol and Gareth Shaw were all given 14-month suspended sentences with 100 hours of unpaid work apart from Carol, who must undertake 80 hours and will be under curfew via an electronic tag in the evenings.

Recorder Silverton added that Carol, who suffered a heart attack three years ago, was ‘old enough to know better’.

Mother, 53, 'old enough to know better' and her son and daughter attacked man in violence caught on Ring doorbell camera in Yorkshire