AN army officer in charge of regimental discipline ordered Caerphilly soldier Gavin Williams to be brought to him "hot and sweaty", an inquest has heard.

Giving evidence at Salisbury Coroners' Court this morning, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Davis of 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh, said he had first come across the private in the early hours of Sunday morning (July 2) when he heard the soldier had let off a fire extinguisher at guests attending a regimental ball.

At the time Lt Col Davis was an Adjutant, the Commanding Officer's principal staff officer. He said the fire extinguisher incident had happened to guests who were with his then fiance and that after she told him he went to see who the culprit was.

After establishing it was Pte Williams, he immediately went to the guard room to record the incident, following it up the next day, on July 3, which was when he became aware of further incidents involving Pte Williams, including that he had been absent without leave, aggressive to a member of staff and attending for duty while drunk.

He started a disciplinary process asking colleagues to provide reports and requested Pte Williams be brought to his office "hot and sweaty" so he could present him with the charges.

He said he did not think he had used the expression "panting like a dog" - previously suggested by a fellow soldier - and defended his phrase "hot and sweaty", saying it was a colloquial army expression.

"I don't know why I used that phrase," he said. "It was stupid. You'll see my statements are littered with that language. I'm a victim of being in the army."

He added: "I wanted staff to march him in a rapid way, doing a dog leg so left turn, right turn, left turn, to my office from where he was", adding "I wanted him on the back foot".

He said he expected it to take "five or ten minutes, not instantaneous, but not a long time".

In a statement made previously, he said: "I just wanted him in my office quickly, I wasn't asking for any form of illegal punishment, bring him, march him, yak him, whatever it may be, get him to my office now."

He said Pte William's actual punishment was "absolutely not" what he had intended.

He admitted that on reflection he was getting "intimately involved" and should have handed the disciplinary matter over to someone else but that once Gavin arrived in his office, he was not overly hot and sweaty, adding: "there were no alarm bells to make me think he had been mistreated".

He said he had expected Pte Williams to be a "firebrand" and be someone who was "going to be a problem" but that he was "sheepish" and "apologetic".

Lt Col Davis said he also took the private's cap badge off him, saying: "I thought he had embarrassed our regiment. I admit it was a pretty stupid thing to do.

"We had civilian guests at the regimental ball. I know it [the fire extinguisher incident] was portrayed as a prank but it didn't feel like one to those people."

The inquest heard that after Pte Williams returned to the guard room, he was marched by Sgt Russell Price to the gym.

Lt Col Davis denied knowledge of the gym session, saying he would not have been surprised if Pte Williams company had taken further discipline through a PT session and would not have been surprised if it had not.

He said he could not remember whether an army doctor, who called him to say Pte Williams had collapsed, had raised concerns about the private having been exercising in high temperatures.

Asked by coroner Alan Large how a Staff Sergeant Physical Training Instructor and a Provost Sergeant could take it upon themselves to conduct a physical training session outside army disciplinary guidance, Lt Col Davis said: "There are two failures. Their failure, and a broader failure in the regiment for it to happen."

Pte Williams, 22, died at Salisbury District Hospital on July 3, 2006.

Based at Lucknow Barracks with the 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh, he had undergone the punishment 'beasting' on one of the hottest days of the year.

In July 2008, three soldiers were cleared of the manslaughter of Pte Williams.

Sgt Russell Price, 46, Sgt Paul Blake, 37, and Cpl John Edwards, 42, were found not guilty by a jury at Winchester Crown Court.

The inquest continues.