A CROWN court judge who previously criticised the Welsh Guards for not throwing out convicted criminals has jailed a guardsman for attacking a Newport clubber.

David Phillips, 34, suffered a fractured left cheekbone, a cut to his face which needed three stitches, black eyes, a bruised nose and a cut lip in the attack by Pontypool-born guardsman Julian Viner, 28.

Recorder Patrick Harrington QC, described Viner as "profoundly arrogant" as he jailed him for 15 months at Cardiff crown court.

Viner, a lance corporal in Northern Ireland, whose address was given as Montgomery Lines, Aldershot, had been convicted at an earlier hearing of grievous bodily harm.

The court heard he had been in the Welsh Guards seven years and intended making it a lifetime career.

But Captain Martin Brown, of the Welsh Guards, told the court the prison sentence means he will be immediately dismissed.

Prosecutor Daniel Williams said the attack happened on New Year's Eve at the Zanzibar nightclub, Newport.

Viner claimed he had acted in self-defence.

Hywel Hughes, defending, said: "A small but devastating eruption of violence has had catastrophic consequences for Viner. It all started as horseplay that night but it got out of hand."

Captain Brown said Viner, who had served in Belize, was due last year to return to Northern Ireland.

"If the sentence allowed we would wish to retain him," he said.

But the judge told Viner: "You are the author of your own misfortune. You attacked a man brutally and caused serious injury. You are a profoundly arrogant man."

Viner was sentenced to 12 months for causing grievous bodily harm, and a further three months for breaching a conditional discharge imposed for common assault on a traffic warden.

Earlier this month the Argus reported how Recorder Harrington criticised the regiment when another Welsh Guard, who admitted burglary, appeared before him.

A senior officer had made representations to the court, saying the regiment wanted to retain servicemen but could not if they were jailed.

But Recorder Harrington said: "How many times does a man have to be convicted before he is thrown out of the Welsh Guards?"