TWO soldiers launched a "disgraceful" attack on an African man after a drunken night out.

Jason Marley and Etienne Winterbach pretended they were from the Immigration Service when they approached Jari Quiro.

The pair - both training with the Parachute Regiment at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire - demanded to know where Mr Quiro was from.

When the 31-year-old Sudanese national spoke to a friend in Arabic, one of the soldiers demanded: "Speak English - you are in England now."

The colleagues flashed identity cards at Mr Quiro, and Winterbach pretended to make a call to immigration officials.

He said: "If you don't tell us where you are from, we will take you down to the office and you will have to prove where you are from."

Marley then held a lit cigarette lighter to Mr Quiro's face and said: "I'm going to burn your hair."

A court heard yesterday that the victim tried to back away but was punched to the ground and kicked by the soldiers.

The incident, outside the Route 66 nightclub, in Darlington, last summer, came to an end when door staff intervened and called police.

Club general manager John Hall, 40, was yesterday praised by Judge Peter Armstrong for his "public-spirited" actions.

The judge told Winterbach, 24, and 21-year-old Marley, who admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm: "You both behaved disgracefully, attacking a man for no good reason."

Marley, who is 13 weeks into his training, was fined £250, and was ordered to pay £250 court costs and £250 compensation.

Winterbach had his sentence deferred for six months after the judge was told he was about to be medically discharged because of an ankle injury.

Judge Armstrong told the South African national that he would receive a similar sentence once he starts earning money again.

Simon Reevell, mitigating, said Winterbach was hoping to re-apply for the Army once he could prove his fitness again.

Winterbach will be unable to return to South Africa without fear of prosecution because it has become a crime for nationals to enlist with foreign forces since many joined the Israeli army during the invasion of Lebanon.

Jonathan Walker, for Marley - who was described as "first class" by a senior officer in court - described his client's actions as "thuggish and highly inappropriate".