Police called out out to more than a dozen Northamptonshire weddings and funerals this year
Emotionally-charged wedding day punch-ups and funeral fracas were responsible for more than a dozen recorded crimes across Northamptonshire this year, a study by the Chronicle and Echo has found.
And on three of those occasions, the bride, groom, or partner of the deceased was identified as the suspect.
In all, police recorded crimes at five funerals and nine often alcohol-fuelled weddings across the county in 2017. On nine occasions the offence involved violence between two parties that did not result in an injury. But the crimes also included public disorder, criminal damage and worse.
At one Corby wedding an "unknown female" attacked and injured a wedding guest, but was charged with a separate offence by police.
A "family member" was accused of carrying out a sexual offence at a separate funeral in the town and a groom was even charged with violent offences at his own wedding in Kettering.
The information was uncovered by the Chron via a Freedom of Information request to Northamptonshire Police, which asked for all the crimes recorded at weddings or funerals during this year.
Though most prosecutions were dropped when victims either declined their support or officers could not gather enough evidence, on three occasions wedding guests were charged with violent crimes.
Bestselling celebrity author GP Taylor was a vicar before leaving the church a decade ago.
In his 13 years as a man of the cloth he said he witnessed some unusual sites at weddings and funerals ‐ and claimed alcohol was usually at the root of them.
“There was one incident when the service went well but once this family all left the church and moved outside, they all just started fighting,” said Mr Taylor, author of the bestselling Shadowmancer books, which have been turned into Hollywood movies.
“It got so out of control they brought a dog handler in ‐ it was absolute carnage."