Soldier escapes Cyprus jail

A British soldier escaped a jail sentence yesterday when he was fined pounds 750 for assaulting two tourists outside a Cyprus disco.

King's Rifleman Roger Bell, 26, from Liverpool, walked from court a free man after the judge decided not to impose a custodial sentence in order to save the soldier's army career.

Any type of custodial sentence or even a suspended one would have meant Bell, a storekeeper with the regiment in Cyprus, would have been discharged. Bell faced up to three years in a Cyprus prison after pleading guilty to causing actual bodily harm to English tourists Barry Ford, 23, and a charge of common assault against his girlfriend Claire Harbour, 22, on in August.