A MAN involved in a city-centre brawl with two serving soldiers has been ordered to do 120 hours’ unpaid work.

Carl Osborne broke a pint glass at a table in the Blue Fly bar which was occupied by servicemen Ryan Kent and Lee Connelly at 2.30am, said David Gordon, prosecuting.

A friend of Osborne’s, Jacob Fox, threw a glass towards the table and both were asked to leave.

When the soldiers went outside for a cigarette, there was a confrontation in Coney Street that started with a “shouting match” and despite a peace effort by Mr Kent, ended with Osborne throwing punches at the soldiers.

Osborne, 25, of East Mount Road, York, pleaded guilty to affray committed on December 15, 2011.

He has 36 previous convictions, many for violence and public disorder and at the time of the brawl was on a suspended prison sentence for assaulting police officers.

When he appeared for sentence last November, the Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, gave him a chance to stay out of prison on condition he stayed out of trouble for six months.

Yesterday York Crown Court heard that Osborne had behaved himself since November.

Judge Ashurst said: “You have kept your part of the bargain by not committing offences. For that reason, I will keep my side of the bargain.”

He ordered Osborne to do 120 hours’ unpaid work.

Mr Gordon said according to prosecution witnesses, Osborne smashed a pint glass, but Osborne pleaded guilty on the basis he was clumsy and it broke accidentally.

Fox, then 20, of Garth Terrace, York, was given a 51-week prison sentence last year suspended for 18 months on condition he did 100 hours’ unpaid work after he admitted affray and causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Kent by breaking his jaw with a single punch.