The five teenage foreign nationals are all charged with assault offences, relating to four complainants, arising from an incident last year.

Two further teenagers have been charged over their alleged involvement in an affray on Ballyholme beach last year.

The development means that five teenagers are now facing charges and the case had been set for a preliminary enquiry on Tuesday, which, if it had gone ahead, would have seen the case returned to the Crown Court for trial.

However, Newtownards Youth Court heard that due to the officer in charge being on leave, papers were not served on one of the defendants and would not be served until later this week.

Although the prosecutor said she had been instructed to ask for a six-week adjournment, District Judge Amanda Brady told her, “I find that unacceptable.”

The five teenage foreign nationals are all charged with assault offences, relating to four complainants, arising from an incident in Co Down on 11 April last year.

On the face of it, the most serious charges are against the 17-year-old boy accused of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, possessing a knuckle duster and a knife, three counts of actual bodily harm and affray “within the vicinity of Bank Lane, Bangor.”

A co-accused, also 17, faces four charges of ABH, possessing a knuckle duster and a broken bottle and affray while the last defendant, who has also turned 17 since he was first charged, is charged with three counts of ABH and one common assault.

The two defendants who have been added to the bill of indictment are a 16-year-old, who cannot be identified because of his age, and 19-year-old Ahmed Izeldin Mohamed, with an address at Kansas Avenue in North Belfast.

They are jointly charged with three counts of causing actual bodily harm to three separate complainants, and a single count of affray.

Although the alleged facts have not yet been opened in court, it was reported at the time that police were called to Ballyholme beach after receiving reports of a “large fight” where “weapons had been used.”

Videos taken at the scene were widely shared online and on social media platforms and at one point, there was speculation that someone had died but that was dismissed as an “unhelpful” rumour.

The PSNI statement appealing for information and witnesses at the time said: “At around 8.15pm last evening, Friday, we responded to reports of a large fight at Ballyholme beach. Further reports from the area suggested that weapons had been used.

“We attended the scene and dealt with a large number of young persons in the area and we remained at the beach dealing with the incident for some time.

“Our investigation into this incident is at an early stage however, we are aware of a number of videos circulating online showing fights between large groups of people.

“We are asking for witnesses to this incident to come forward and work with us as we investigate and try to identify those responsible.

“We are also aware that there are rumours circulating that following the incident, a male has died – this is not the case and this sort of speculation is not helpful. We are not aware of any serious injuries. People need to be responsible when posting online.”

In court on Tuesday, a clearly angry Judge Brady highlighted the fact that the case has been “carefully managed” for the last ten months and that everything had been set in place so that the case would be returned to the Crown Court.

“I find it unacceptable that an officer goes on leave and hasn’t served the papers,” she told the court, “are there no other officers in the police who could take that duty on?”

Judge Brady told the PPS lawyer: “There is absolutely no way the prosecution are getting six weeks… nobody in the PPS seems to be doing their utmost to address the issue.”

“I find it astonishing and concerning about the lack of attention to detail,” she added, refusing the application for a six-week adjournment, and instead putting the case back to 24 March.

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