A Folkestone restaurant boss, who fled Britain rather than face a trial for his part in a street brawl, has escaped an immediate jail sentence.

Lil Roka, 37, went on the run rather than show up at Canterbury Crown Court and was convicted by a jury in his absence.

His lawyer Oliver Kirk told the judge that the former Gurkha soldier – who served in the British Army for 17 years – is believed to be living in his native Nepal.

He said Roka, of Sevastopol Place, Canterbury had done two tours of Afghanistan and also served in The Falklands,Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq and Sierra Leone.

After leaving the army he ran the New Moon Restaurant in Cheriton High Street until October 2012.

It was then he became involved in a bust-up with members of a Gurkha gang known as ‘The Dragon Guys”.

An attack happened near the Cadet Hall in Church Road Cheriton after a fall-out between former friends and members of the Royal Gurkha Regiment..

It ended with a brawl involving a weapon resembling a kukri – a traditional Gurkha knife – and a brick and left four people injured.

Restaurant diner Christopher Bradley, 57, of Shaftesbury Avenue, Folkestone who joined Roka in the incident was given a 12 month jail sentence suspended for two years after a jury found him guilty of affray.

He was acquitted on two charges of assault and possessing an offensive weapon.

The jury found Roka – who once finished third in the Taekwondo World Championships – guilty of affray and acquitted him on other charges of wounding and possessing an offensive weapon.

He was given an 18 month jail sentence suspended for two years – although there is still a warrant out for his arrest for jumping bail.