Paul Greaney KC, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court Paul Doyle enlisted in the Royal Marines at age 19, after a short period in the Royal Engineers.

He signed up for 22 years’ service but was discharged in January 1993, 22 months after enlisting. Doyle did not see active service and was discharged on a basis that his services were no longer required, the court heard.

Mr Greaney said Doyle had both civilian and service convictions. When Doyle was in the Royal Engineers in 1989, he committed a military offence equated to common assault and was given seven days’ detention, he said. The court heard in March the following year, aged 18, Doyle was fined for a minor offence of dishonesty.

In October 1991, at the end of Paul Doyle’s 32-week training period for the Royal Marines at the Commando Training Centre in Lympstone, Devon, he had what he later described as a “scuffle” with men in a nightclub.

He said after he was thrown out, the men were waiting for him and he “got the better of them”. He punched another person in the face several times and was convicted of a section 20 assault and fined by Exeter Magistrates’ Court.

In February 1992, he was convicted of two military offences – one of using violence to a superior officer and one of conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline – and in July that year he was convicted of a military offence equivalent to criminal damage, the court heard.