An army boxer has been jailed for beating up a neighbour in a vicious doorstep attack.

Coldstream Guardsman John Broadley, aged 27, knocked on victim Robert Watkins' door at 1am and then set on him without warning when he opened it.

He punched the victim in the face, licked his blood off his knuckles and told him: "That's what I like."

A judge jailed him after listening to a harrowing 999 call made by the victim's girlfriend in which she screamed hysterically as the attack continued.

Afghanistan veteran Broadley had a long-standing grudge against Mr Watkins and attacked him at his home in Combe Martin, North Devon, while home on Christmas leave.

Broadley, of West Leigh Farm, Combe Martin, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and was jailed for two years by Judge Phillip Wassall at Exeter Crown Court.

The judge told him: "Because of a perceived slight by Mr Watkins you visited his address at 1am and forced your way in and subjected him to a sustained and terrifying attack. There were several blows to the head and torso with fists and feet. It was a protracted assault in which at one stage he was thrown across the room."

He added: "It is not easy for the court to set aside the service you have given your country, particularly since you have done active tours of duty in Afghanistan, but this case can only be dealt with by custody."

Miss Emily Pitts, prosecuting, said: "At one stage the defendant stopped, licked the victim's blood off his knuckles and said to him 'that's what I like'. When police interviewed him he accepted he was a soldier who was trained to fight and is a very successful boxer."

Miss Pitts said during the attack, Broadley accused his victim of swearing at him in the past and of calling his sister offensive names. Nigel Wraith, defending, said Broadley was a soldier in the Coldstream Guards at the time and was home on Christmas leave at the time of the attack. He said he was also upset because he had just learned of the death of his mother's partner and that his mental state may have been affected the horrors he had seen in Afghanistan.