Iraq vet avoids jail for officer attack

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.
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http://www.expressandstar.com/2008/11/08/iraq-vet-avoids-jail-for-officer-attack/

Linked from ICasualties.org