An Army instructor bullied and humiliated a group of schoolboy soldiers for ten days during a cadet training camp, a court heard.

The youngsters were allegedly left battered and in tears after the campaign of severe discipline at the hands of Colour Sergeant John Stratford.

Hexham magistrates heard how Stratford picked a teenage boy up by his throat with a piece of netting before hitting him with a baseball bat.

Other cadets complained of being hit on the head with a baseball bat and being struck across the face with a training shoe.

Mr Stratford, 38, is said to have assaulted six boys during an annual cadet training camp excursion to Hawkhirst, near Kielder Water, in the Lake District.

Mr Stratford, a civilian who is not a member of the armed forces, appeared at Hexham Magistrates' Court, in Northumberland, yesterday charged with six counts of common assault.

Six teenagers claimed they were subject to ritual bullying when they travelled to the camp from Liverpool on August 4, last year.

Mr Stratford, of Wavetry, Liverpool, denies all six the charges. The trial, which is expected to last four days, continues.