AN amateur boxer was beginning a five-year prison sentence last night after being jailed for killing a “gentle giant” soldier in a drink and drug-fuelled street attack.

Michael Ridley, who had taken cocaine, landed a punch on Sergeant Chris Chacksfield and attacked his wife, Adele, while they were on a night out in Newcastle, in the early hours of May 31.

Sgt Chacksfield, a veteran of Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans conflicts, died three days later.

Ridley, 22, admitted his manslaughter and the unlawful wounding of his corporal wife, an Army nurse, and was jailed at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday.

Cpl Chacksfield, who had returned from Afghanistan only a month before the attack, paid tribute to her late husband.

Wearing his wedding ring on a chain around her neck, the 32-year-old said: “He was literally a gentle giant at 6ft 2in and 14 stone. He loved life, he was placid and a gentleman.

Everybody liked him, he just captivated everybody.”

She added: “I’m obviously disappointed in the sentence, but, on the other hand, they caught somebody and he’s behind bars.

“Although it doesn’t seem fair, I believe Ridley will get his comeuppance in the end.

What goes around, comes around.”

She said: “You could almost understand if Chris had died on active service, but not on a night out.”

The couple had been together for seven years, were married in 2004 and have a three-year-old daughter, Sophia.

They were enjoying a rare night off together because Sgt Chacksfield was on exercise in the North-East.

Cpl Chacksfield said: “Everybody is devastated.

We’ve got to totally rebuild our lives now. I’ve had to tell Sophia that her daddy has gone to heaven and he’s a star in the sky now.” Sgt Chacksfield, who was 31 and from Haverfordwest, Wales, joined the Army in 1996.

His commanding officer in 14 Signal Regiment (Electronic Warfare) described him as a giant of a man in body and spirit, the court heard.

Christopher Knox, prosecuting, said: “He represented the best of what it means to be a soldier in the British Army.”

On the night of the attack, the couple had been for a meal before meeting Sgt Chacksfield’s colleagues for drinks.

They left the group and at about 12.50am, as they were walking along Newgate Street to find a taxi, they met Ridley outside Babylon 90 bar.

Mr Knox said witnesses described how Ridley and Sgt Chacksfield had possibly bumped into each other, but there were no reports of an altercation.

However, Ridley, high on drink and cocaine, punched Sgt Chacksfield in the head and then attacked his wife.

Witnesses reported hearing a “sickening crack” as the first blow landed. The incident lasted only 15 seconds.

Ridley, a 6ft stockily-built former steelworker, ran off and continued drinking before being arrested at 2am. Police found testosterone, used by body builders, at his home.

Richard Bloomfield, for Ridley, said: “He is still struggling to come to terms with the fact he has caused a man to die and this will live with him forever. Had he not consumed alcohol or cocaine, we would almost certainly not be here now.”

Sentencing Ridley, of Sceptre Place, Newcastle, to five years in jail, Judge Esmond Faulks told him: “This was a most dreadful tragedy and was brought about by your behaviour.”