Three Marines locked up for water boarding young recruit and forcing him to drink from a paddling pool full of urine and vomit

THREE Royal Marines have been jailed for humiliating a new recruit in an initial ceremony described as "40 minutes of depravity and naked humiliation".

Carlo Nicholson, 22, said he was left feeling suicidal after being made to drink from a paddling pool full of urine and vomit as 80 drunken men watched.

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During the ‘rite-of-passage’ ceremony event Mr Nicholson, along with other newcomers to the unit, was forced to run naked around the camp with bottles and milk and lemonade taped to his arms.

He was made to lie down in the paddling pool while eggs were thrown at him and forced to fight other marines while naked and covered in cooking oil.

Mr Nicholson was also made to eat dessert spoons of chill, cinnamon and curry powder, eat dog food out of a mess tin while on all fours, eat lard and swallow liquid through a funnel.

Fellow marines then made him drink from the paddling pool which also contained a rollmop herring, lard and cider.

He was also water-boarded in a sick trial carried out by 45 Commando at Royal Marine Condor in Arbroath in May 2014.

In a statement read to the court, Mr Nicholson, who is suing the Ministry of Defence over his treatment, said: "The incident has left me feeling like I just want to be alone and I am pushing people away. “This includes my girlfriend and daughter.

"As a direct result I have been having suicidal thoughts.

"I feel like the water-boarding was the point where I snapped because it was a physical fear and I was panicked."

The young ex-squaddie, who has since left the service, added: "I have completely lost my faith in the brotherhood of the corps.

"When I first joined the marines, I intended to make a career out of it. However, I do not feel I can go back to work because wherever I go, I will always be that guy - the guy who reported it."

Marine Ian Tennet, 22, Lance Corporal Scott Simm, 26, and James Taylor, 27, who is now a lance corporal in the Royal Marines Reserves, were all sentenced for a charge of ill-treatment of a subordinate.

Tennet was sentenced to 11 months and two weeks' detention, while Simm and Taylor were both sentenced to eight months.

A fourth defendant, former Marine Ryan Logan, 25, was sentenced to 220 hours of unpaid community work for battery and disgraceful conduct of a cruel kind.

Sentencing at Portsmouth Naval Base's court martial centre, Judge Advocate Robert Hill said: "The suggestion has been made it was nothing more than a rite of passage, and its purpose was not to humiliate, harm or distress but to harness bonding, and is something all Royal Marines Commandos have gone through - but it's no more than conduct that brings disgrace on the Commandos involved.”

He said the defendants had been described during the court hearing as "scapegoats" and suggested more senior servicemen had escaped punishment.

James Bruce, representing Simm, who pleaded guilty, said: "His admissions show his remorse and maturity."

Kathy Bradshaw, representing Tennet who was found guilty after a trial, said that he had not become involved in the ill-treatment of Mr Nicholson out of "malice or nastiness".

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She said: "He is not a bully.

“He didn't do it because he had any bad feeling towards Mr Nicholson, he didn't do it because he thought it was degrading or meant to be humiliating.

"He did it out of a lack of judgment in an ethos that the joining run was seen by the vast majority of the other joiners as a tradition, as a bonding experience."

Taylor, now a security guard in Birmingham pleaded guilty.

Lieutenant Commander Neil MacLennan, defending him said: “With a crowd of 80 drunken men surrounding this event there was a real risk that matters may have very quickly escalated.

"He wanted to keep a watchful eye on Mr Nicholson as well as he could."

Fiona Edington, representing Logan, who pleaded guilty, said that the water-boarding was "not article three torture, it was a very, very limited incident".

The court heard that Logan was solely convicted in relation to the "water-boarding incident" where he placed material over Mr Nicholson's face and poured water over it while others watched, but he was not involved in the other offences.