A FORMER soldier from York who was jailed for going AWOL in protest over the war in Afghanistan has spoken publicly for the first time since his release.

Joe Glenton, 28, of New Earswick, served four months of his nine-month sentence after being released early for good behaviour.

He said while in prison he had received hundreds of messages of support from ex-servicemen, students, schools and elderly people – peaking at 200 letters a day.

Mr Glenton has now vowed to continue his campaign against the war and said his only regret was not fighting the establishment harder.

He said: “I have had my homecoming. But there are 322 soldiers, and 322 families, that will never have one.”

The 28-year-old fled abroad in June 2007 after refusing a second posting to Afghanistan, nine months after returning from his first tour of duty overseeing ammunition supplies with the Royal Logistic Corps.

He said when he returned home from Afghanistan he suffered nightmares, loss of sleep, and anxiety – since being diagnosed as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

One recurring dream was of the 14 coffins he had lined up to carry home the British servicemen killed when an RAF Nimrod electronic surveillance plane blew up over Afghanistan in September 2006.

He said: “You can almost time the moment after boys come home from Afghanistan, do their freedom of marches, and within a month show all the signs of PTSD – drinking, drugs, fighting, all of which seems tied to their experiences on operational tours.”

It was while Mr Glenton was AWOL in Australia that he met his future wife, Clare, now 32, and confided his secret.

He said: “She was the driving force. I decided not to come slinking back, but to return and fight it. I remember circling over Manchester Airport preparing to land, and thinking it felt like I was deploying in another war zone.”

He turned up for work at Dalton Barracks, Oxfordshire, in June 2009, after a two-year absence, and prepared for his court martial. In March, he was sentenced to nine months in a military detention centre.

He now plans to study international relations at Leeds Metropolitan University in September.