A member of the armed forces has been detained for carrying out cruel acts during army drills.

Lance Sergeant Liam Cruise-Taylor, 32, was violent towards seven Irish Guards Recruits, part of the household division that provides protection for the Queen.

He repeatedly punched new recruits and twisted their nipples during training exercises at Catterick Infantry Centre, North Yorkshire.

Cruise-Taylor elbowed one soldier so hard that he doubled over in pain but was told to ‘stand up and take it like a man’.

Another recruit was slapped around the face for getting his name wrong.

He was given a six-month service detention and demoted to lance corporal after admitting ill-treatment at a courts martial this April and

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Cruise Taylor served more than 10 years in the Army and completed a tour of Afghanistan. He was considered to be one of the best NCOs in the Irish Guards before the bullying took place between July 2016 and February 2017.

Despite his otherwise exemplary record, he had shown little remorse for what he did.

Lord Justice Davis said: ‘[A] recruit was also punched.  This guardsman was then grabbed by Cruise-Taylor by the nipples, who twisted them.

‘That guardsman said Cruise-Taylor regularly punched him and other recruits in the stomach.’

Cruise-Taylor said that he had suffered bullying and victimisation while in the ranks and a psychiatrist said this had triggered a ‘depressive illness’.

His lawyers wanted his sentence to be suspended and get him re-instated as a lance sergeant. However, the judges at the appeals court rejected this.

Lord Justice Davis said: ‘It is to be borne in mind that, taken overall, this was a bad case of bullying.

‘A number of young recruits were involved while in training, and what happened happened over a considerable period of time.

‘It cannot be said that what occurred here was isolated offending. Given the circumstances, reduction in rank was almost inevitable.

‘No lance sergeant can possibly behave in the way he behaved – taking advantage of his rank and status with regard to raw recruits.’

Cruise-Taylor has since recovered from his depression and is now rebuilding his military career, the judge added.

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