A SOLDIER who burgled his comrades’ rooms to steal their medals which he then sold for thousands of pounds on eBay has been jailed for five years.

Sergeant Gordon Hill, 37, of Nursery Lane, in Darlington, was branded disgraceful by a judge and told he had brought shame and dishonour upon himself.

His 22-year Army career, which included service in Northern Ireland, Kosovo and Afghanistan, lies in tatters after he was caught sneaking into soldiers’ bedrooms to steal their medals, which he sold online for £6,936.

Among the campaign awards that Hill took from the Sergeants’ Mess, in Battlesbury Barracks, in Warminster, Wiltshire, was a rare Sierra Leone medal, as well as others marking conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland.

Hill then went online to sell the medals, which one victim said he had spilled his blood for, to the highest bidder.

He was caught after a buyer became suspicious when she realised she had bought medals that belonged to a serving soldier. During his trial last month Hill, who served with the Duke of Lancasters Regiment, claimed the eight victims asked him to sell the medals for them.

He insisted the men had approached him and he had given them the money after they were sold.

However, jurors did not believe the father-of-two and he was convicted of seven burglaries, 12 counts of fraud and one theft, between 2008 and 2010.

Hill worked as a senior instructor teaching reconnaissance tactics and was due to retire in 2013.

Hannah Squire, prosecuting, said the vast majority of the medals were campaign medals that had been awarded to the soldiers to mark their service to this country.

“These medals represent more than just recognition of their service,” she said.

“To some they are the physical embodiment of what they had to go through to get them.

“To some, they represent close friends and colleagues they lost in action.”

Ms Squire read statements made by six of the victims who described their feelings of betrayal at the hands of a fellow soldier.

Warrant Officer Thomas Salter said: “I feel upset and degraded that a fellow senior NCO has entered my room and taken my medals.

“My medals are a permanent reminder of the good times and bad.”

Another soldier, Kevin Blackley, spoke of the importance of his Afghanistan medal. He said: “It’s the most important medal I have.

We lost five from my own battalion and three from my reconnaissance force.

“My Afghanistan medal serves as a chilling reminder of the price we pay for the freedom that we take for granted.”

The court heard how Hill had been court martialed twice in the past for stealing. In 1999, he stole military kit worth £300 from another soldier’s room in barracks and in 2005, he took a junior ranking soldier’s car. Hill was demoted but remained in the Army.

Alex Daymond, defending, said: “Mr Hill continues to deny responsibility for these offences and he maintains, as he did during his trial, that he was approached by these soldiers and asked to sell these medals.

“His career has been lost to him.

It has come to a rather premature and sad end and he will have to face the disgrace of discharge.”

At Swindon Crown Court, Judge Douglas Field, jailing Hill for five years, said: “The victims of the burglary and theft were no less than your fellow sergeants.

You entered their private rooms, stole their military medals and sold them on eBay.

“Their medals have been awarded to them for recognition of their meritorious service in the British Army, particularly their service in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

“From their impact statements, I am again reminded of what you have done to them.

“The present offences have brought shame and dishonour upon you and are so serious I must pass an immediate lengthy term of imprisonment.”

Speaking outside court, Detective Chief Inspector Michael Conner, of the Ministry of Defence Police, said that this investigation was part of a wider inquiry into the unauthorised sale of military memorabilia on internet auction sites.