AN off-duty bouncer has been ordered to pay compensation to a Royal Marine he attacked during a night out in Exmouth.

John Essex was partying with a group of colleagues from Taunton when they clashed with a party of Commandos celebrating victim Stewart Beeston's demobbing.

Mr Beeston plans to start a new life outside the forces were wrecked by the attack in which he suffered two fractures of the cheekbone and one of the eye socket.

Essex, 53, of Eaton Crescent, Taunton, admitted affray and was jailed for 12 months, suspended for two years, ordered to pay £1,000 compensation and do 100 hours unpaid community work by Judge Mrs Justice May at Exeter Crown Court.

She told him:"Witnesses describe you as being the most aggressive that night, although you were not the only one involved. You are 53 and old enough to know very much better.

"This took place in a group situation, late at night, and after you had been drinking."

Tom Bradnock, prosecuting, said Essex was with a group of doormen from a Taunton club on a night out at Exmouth's Fever and Boutique club in Exmouth on July 23, 2015.

They had left the club and were buying food at a kebab shop in the town centre when there was a dispute with a group of Royal Marines in which Essex intervened.

CCTV from behind the counter showed him in the doorway pushing Mr Beeston, who had been a Marine for 22 years, to the ground but the ensuing fight was out of shot.

He made a victim statement saying he may have to delay starting work as a civilian.

He wrote: "It has made me feel sorry for stepping in and trying to do the right thing. I'll think twice before I do it in the future."

Emma Martin, defending, said Essex lost his job as a doorman because of the incident but is now working as a van driver. He does not accept he swung the blow which caused Mr Beeston's injury.

She said:"It was a fast evolving incident in which he involved himself when he never should have. He regrets his part in this regrettable incident."