Ten British men have been found guilty of disturbing the peace and sentenced to ten months by a court in Crete following a fight last month.

The men, who had been bailed until August 1, were arrested following a fight involving 50 UK nationals at the medical centre in Malia on July 22. None of them appeared at the hearing on Monday and they were not legally represented.

All ten, who have since returned to the UK, were found not guilty of dangerous bodily harm, according to the Foreign Office. The spokesman said it was "unknown" what had happened to a third charge of damage to property.

The men can now appeal within ten days of the verdict.

The spokesman for the FCO said: "If they do not appeal, they can serve the sentence in Greece or pay it off as a fine."

The ten who were sentenced on Monday are aged from 18 to 29 and are from London, the West Midlands, Yorkshire and Greater Manchester.

A 20-year-old British woman, from Manchester, who was due to appear alongside the men in connection with a "separate incident" was found not guilty of damaging a police vehicle. All 11 had appeared in court on July 24.

George Speis, general manager of Cretan Medicare, said on July 25 that the group of around 50 British people had caused between 2,000 euros (£1,365) and 3,000 euros (£2,048) damage during the fight at the medical centre.

Mr Speis said: "The staff are very worried but since the fight they are relaxed. There has been no trouble since and the police have stepped up their patrols."

Mr Speis said none of the medical staff was injured during the fight. There were six on duty, including two doctors, nurses, a security guard and an ambulance driver.

On July 25, it was reported that trouble started after groups of men clashed over insults about their girlfriends.

The paper also reported that riot police were called to the hospital.