Soldier jailed for nightclub killing

Incident happened in a nightclub car park

A soldier has been sentenced to four years detention for killing a man in a brawl outside a nightclub in Wiltshire.

Private Wayne King, 20, admitted the manslaughter of 34-year-old Glyne Agard, at Bristol Crown Court last month.

Mr Agard a train ticket collector from Reading, Berkshire, died from complications after being injured in the fight in the car park of Reflections nightclub in Westbury.

His family had claimed the attack on Mr Agard, who was black, was racially motivated.

But Mr Justice Steel - sitting at the High Court in London - said he was not dealing with the case on that basis.

Private Wayne King: Admitted manslaughter

King also admitted causing grievous bodily harm to Gary Belgrave - a friend of Mr Agard.

A second Green Howards soldier, Private Thomas Myers, 20, admitted causing Mr Agard's brother Stephen actual bodily harm during the incident on 18 June last year.

King's unprovoked attack on Mr Agard, involving head-butting and punching, was "short but vicious and was only interrupted by his unexpected collapse", the judge said.

He told King: "As a result, a young life has been lost over an utterly trivial issue, leaving a shattered group of family and friends."

...A young life has been lost over an utterly trivial issue, leaving a shattered group of family and friends

Mr Justice Steel

The fight happened after an earlier argument when Myers confronted Stephen Agard about a girl who said a black man had assaulted her in the club.

Bouncers broke the row up but shortly afterwards the groups clashed in the car park.

The judge said the two soldiers, based at Warminster, Wiltshire, became "thoroughly steamed up" about a girl's complaint that she had been hit in the stomach by a black man.

Their "exaggerated sense of chivalry and propensity to overreact and exact vengeance" was fuelled by drink, of which King had drunk an "enormous quantity", he said.

Acquittals

Neither seemed the sort of person to be motivated by mindless hostility to black people, he said.

The judge said he would not use his powers to increase their sentences on the grounds of racial motivation or aggravation.

The judge told Myers he had encouraged King to "act as a mindless vigilante" before putting his own boxing prowess to ill use.

Glyne Agard: Family said attack was racially motivated

The trial began with both soldiers charged with Mr Agard's murder, but the jury was directed to acquit Myers of murder and accept King's manslaughter plea.

Two other soldiers in the same regiment, Private Marc Hunter, 18, and Lance Corporal David White, 23, were both acquitted of murder.

King, originally from Middlesbrough, and Myers, from Hartlepool, also admitted affray.

The judge sentenced Myers to two years in prison. He has already served 12 months in custody and stands to be released soon on licence.