A soldier is set to be kicked out of the Army for hitting a woman with a bottle.

Benjamin Rhodes did not realise he was holding the bottle at the time he hit the woman, and a court heardhow he would be dismissed from the services if he was jailed.

But a judge at Chelmsford Crown Court told him attacks involving bottles must be met with prison sentences.

Rhodes, 24, was jailed for six months after he admitted a charge of actual bodily harm on the woman when he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court for sentence on Friday.

Despite references from three Army captains describing Rhodes as a good soldier with exemplary conduct, Judge Alasdair Darroch told him there was no alternative to prison.

"This was an innocent woman in a public place and the message has to go out that anyone - be they military or civilian - involved in incidents of this kind will face a prison sentence," the judge told 24-year-old Rhodes.

The court heard that Rhodes, a member of the Parachute Regiment based at Hyderabad Barracks on the Colchester Garrison, was in Fagin's Den nightclub on December 2 last year.

There was a row with a woman over a purse and she bit Rhodes, said Stephen Dyble, prosecuting.

Later on, there was another row between Rhodes and the woman he thought had bit him earlier but it was someone else, Mr Dyble said.

The woman, Tasha Gearing, was hit by Rhodes and received a 3cm cut to her scalp, the court heard.

Rhodes left the club but went to the police station the following day.

Gareth Hughes, mitigating, said Rhodes forgot or did not realise he was holding the bottle at the time. He accepted it was a serious matter.

A jail sentence would mean him being dismissed from the Army, Mr Hughes added.

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