Iraq vet avoids jail for officer attack

An exemplary soldier described as a credit to his country has avoided jail and been given one last chance to stay in the Army after pleading guilty to shoving a policeman through a glass door.

Private Tristan Gardner, of the 3rd Battalion Mercian Regiment (Staffords), was told at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court yesterday : "If anyone else had walked through the door today, they would have gone straight to prison, no doubt about it."

Lieutenant Kris Koniarski came to court to plead for leniency on behalf of Gardner, who would have been booted out the Army if given a suspended or custodial sentence. In an "extremely unusual" move, the soldier, of Mills Road, All Saints, Wolverhampton, was fined £1,100.

Despite having previous convictions for assault and battery, the court heard how Gardner was an "invaluable" soldier. While in Iraq last year on Operation Telic 9, the 24-year-old dragged injured people to safety following an explosion that killed several Royal Marines.

Lieutenant Koniarski said: "He is an exemplary soldier and has offered invaluable service to the Army. If it were not for his previous convictions, he would have been promoted.

"He is receiving counselling for what he went through in Iraq."

Mrs Jane Yeomans, prosecuting, said Gardner was arrested at his girlfriend's home on October 26 following reports of a domestic dispute. As a police officer went to arrest the soldier, he was pushed back into a glass door and his arm went shattering through the glass, leaving cuts and abrasions.

Gardner pleaded guilty to assault with intent to resist arrest. Magistrates fined him £1,100 and ordered him to pay £250 compensation, £60 costs and £15 surcharge.

Chair of the bench Ralph Aldhous said: "The fact the defendant is a soldier does not place him above the law. But we have heard evidence as to Private Gardner's value to the Army and the assistance he is receiving through counselling. This is a very unusual sentence."