A man walked free from court today after he admitted setting alight an RAF pilot who was dressed as a sheep for a fancy dress party.

Phillip Buckingham, 24, set fire to the costume made from cotton wool and pillows at a boozy graduation party at the Linton-on-Ouse air base, in North Yorkshire, in November.

His victim, Martin Geraghty, 26, suffered 13% burns in the incident, which followed a traditional piano-burning ceremony that dates back to the second world war, Teesside crown court heard.

Buckingham, of Peterborough, in Cambridgeshire, admitted causing grievous bodily harm as part of a "stupid, drunken prank which went very badly wrong", the court heard.

The judge, Brian Forster, handed him a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for a year, and ordered him to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and to pay his victim £7,500 in compensation. Buckingham must also pay £900 prosecution costs.

Forster said: "It is quite clear from the information available to the court that this was indeed a reckless prank committed in circumstances where you had not considered the consequences of what you were about to do."

Buckingham, who works in research and development for Anglian Water, was a guest of two trainee pilots at the party, which had a rural theme.

They were watching the piano-burning ceremony and discussed how a member of staff burned his hands jumping over the embers at a previous event, the court heard.

Dan Cordey, prosecuting, said: "It led to a discussion about what would happen to Martin Geraghty if he attempted the feat in his fancy dress costume. The consensus was it was a stupid idea."

Buckingham took a lighter from his pocket and set fire to the married father-of-one's costume.

"The complainant hit out at the defendant in an attempt to get away as the flames caught hold," Cordey said.

Geraghty threw himself to the ground and rolled on the floor trying to put out the flames while people threw drinks over him.

Buckingham was arrested at the base and in interviews he admitted to having been so drunk he could remember little about the incident.

Geraghty, who was in training at the time, was off work for six weeks but managed to graduate in March despite his injuries, which required skin grafts.

The court heard Buckingham was himself the victim of a bizarre accident some years ago when he lost an eye due to an injury caused by a wallpaper stripper while he was scraping a wall.