A SOLDIER alleged to have hit his superior on the head with a pickaxe during an Army exercise appeared in court yesterday.

The 17-year-old private, from Blackburn, Lancashire, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged with attempted murder following an incident at Imber, on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.

Lance Corporal Konrad Bisping, 26, of the 1st Battalion the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, based at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, is in a critical condition in Southampton General Hospital after undergoing emergency surgery to remove a trench pickaxe embedded in his head.

North Wiltshire Magistrates' Court remanded the teenager in custody to appear before a youth court on Tuesday, where the case is expected to be committed to crown court.

He appeared at the court wearing camouflage combat fatigues. No application for bail was made.