A LONG-SERVING soldier whose attempt to discipline his daughter broke her arm has been spared a prison sentence.

The non-commissioned officer kicked out when the four-year-old child’s play resulted in her younger brother falling off a bed, said Carl Fitch, prosecuting.

There was no obvious injury, though the girl’s arm hurt immediately and it wasn’t until the next day her family realised she had an undisplaced fracture in her arm, the court heard.

Doctors treated it by putting a rigid plaster on it for a week and she is believed to have made a full recovery.

After hearing from the soldier’s lieutenant and reading Army references about him, the Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Batty QC, said it was an exceptional case.

“You are a man of impeccable character who has served this country well,” he told the soldier. “You are a good husband and father and this is a single blemish on what otherwise is an extremely good life well lived this far.”

He gave him a community order with 12 days of rehabilitative activities on the understanding the Army would arrange for him to do the equivalent of unpaid work at the camp where he is based. He also ordered him to pay £200 prosecution costs.

The 36-year-old soldier, from a North Yorkshire town, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm.

He has been living at an Army barracks while on bail and has been in the Army for 13 years, serving in both Afghanistan and Falkland.

The judge told York Crown Court the soldier had intended kicking the girl’s backside but she had lifted her arm and that had resulted in the injury.

“You didn’t intend to hurt her and you didn’t intend to cause her any injury at all,” he said.

Mr Fitch said the main impact on the child of the crime had been the little girl asking every day when her daddy was coming home.

The soldier had been playing on his Xbox with headphones on while the children jumped up and down on the bed. When the boy fell, he hit his head on a cabinet and cried. The girl immediately knew she had been naughty.