A SOLDIER who slashed another squaddie was spared jail to fight in Afghanistan.

Judge Michael Taylor said that he would have jailed a civilian for the same crime, adding that some of the public might criticise his treatment of Lance Corporal Dean Willock.

But Willock,23, would be kicked out of the Army if he received even a short prison sentence, and an officer said that they would to keep him for his five-and-a-half years' experience.

He will lose a stripe and be punished by his commanding officer at Catterick Garrison, said Richard Bennett, defending at Teesside Crown Court today.

Willock was drunk when he smashed a bottle outside a pub in Richmond, North Yorkshire, and he slashed another soldier, 19-year-old David McLaughlin, causing minor scratches to his chest.

Prosecutor Jonnie Walker said that the victim refused to take action against Willock, but the police proceeded on a charge of affray.

Mr Bennett said that Willock had recently served in Iraq where he helped to train the Iraqi army, and he was due to be posted to Afghanistan next March.

Judge Taylor asked Mr Bennett: "Should I treat a soldier any differently from a member of the public?"

Mr Bennett said that a distinction could be drawn between Willock and a civilian offender.

The judge told Willock: "You have served your country under fire overseas on a number of occasions, and have to do so again.

"You have a drink problem and it is not an unusual feature in the Army.

"But you decided after a night of excessive drinking to engage in an argument with a fellow soldier, you broke a bottle and you attacked him with it.

"Had there been serious injury in this case you would have been facing a Section 18 wounding with intent and the minimum sentence you would have faced would have been three years imprisonment."

The judge added: "I have said on many occasions that drunkenness in the street when people arm themselves with glasses deserves one sentence and one sentence only, and that is imprisonment.

"It is a stark choice and one in which there are no winners and potential losers.

"If I don't put you inside I open the judiciary for ridicule for treating you differently from the others.

"I am told that at the end of the day you will face discipline from the Army and face threats to your own life in your next posting.

"If you come before me again you will definitely go away.You are a very lucky young man, and you should never appear before a court again."

Willock of Megiddo Line, Catterick Garrison, was given a two year conditional discharge, ordered to pay £1,000 compensation to Private McLaughlin, £1,048 prosecution costs and £500 towards defence costs after he pleaded guilty to the October 17 affray.