A SOLDIER who served in Iraq and Bosnia punched and kicked a female friend before setting on her housemate.

Carlton Holmes-Smith admitted causing actual bodily harm to Cheney Ward and common assault on Heath Woodward.

He was given a suspended sentence at Oxford Crown Court yesterday.

The 49-year-old became friends with Miss Ward in 2000 after they met in the Territorial Army, the court was told. Prosecutor Meyrick Williams said Holmes-Smith, who runs a junior golf league in Bicester, went round to his friend’s home on June 25 after “an issue at a golf club” which had angered him.

Mr Williams said Holmes-Smith, of Medina Gardens in Bicester, began drinking vodka with Miss Ward and her boyfriend before the defendant’s mood flipped “like a light switch”.

The court heard that he punched his friend in the face a number of times, leaving her with a suspected fractured jaw, then kicked her in the back and stomach before leaving.

Holmes-Smith is then said to have grabbed flatmate Heath Woodward in a headlock and “struck his head against a radiator two or three times”.

Judge Gordon Risius gave Holmes-Smith a five-month jail term, suspended for two years.

He must also do 100 hours unpaid work and pay £100 compensation and £250 costs.