A WISBECH man and former soldier who had been a sergeant with the 5th Battalion The Rifles has been jailed for attacking his girl friend.

James Hamilton-Bing, 24, of Clarkson Avenue, Wisbech, swore and shouted at the judge as he was sentenced at Truro Crown Court, Cornwall.

“Two tours of Iraq for this country and this is what you do to me,” the handcuffed father-of-one ranted as he was led away from the dock.

The court had been told he had repeatedly attacked his then girl friend and mother of his young son.

The former soldier, who had once been selected to become a sniper, was jailed for 14 months.

Judge Neligan told Hamilton-Bing the assault was “by any stretch of the imagination a vicious assault.

“You have carried out some nasty assaults upon a young lady who presumably loved you. Even though there were difficulties in the relationship there was no excuse to be violent to her – violent in an aggressive and bullying way.”

The assault took place while the couple were living near St Austell.

Hamilton-Bing was originally charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm but at Truro Crown Court he pleaded not guilty.

He did, however, admit common assault which the Crown accepted because of his girl friend’s reluctance to testify.