Bar fight costly for ex-Key bodyguard

Stewart Brodie worked as a bodyguard for Prime Minister John Key during his 10 years with the diplomatic protection squad.

A former policeman and bodyguard to the prime minister had an ongoing police contract terminated when he was charged with assaulting a man in a drunken bar fight in Hastings.

Stewart Brodie last year pleaded guilty to the assault. However, he later appealed against the conviction it has been reported.

The appeal was dismissed by Justice Graham Lang, a decision released this week states.

Brodie was ordered to make an emotional harm payment of $1000 but Judge Geoff Rea imposed no other penalty.

Brodie had been drinking in a bar in Hastings with his two sons on October 18, 2014, media reports.. He intervened when his sons got into an argument by putting a man in a headlock.

When the man bit Brodie's arm he punched him in the side of the head.

Brodie joined the police when he was 30 and served for 18 years, with 10 of these as a member of the Diplomatic Protection Squad protecting the Prime Minister and foreign dignitaries.

He also spent 17 years with the Territorials.

He was enlisted as an engineer and was deployed to East Timor for six months during his final year at the Police College.

During the deployment he worked in a forward intelligence role with police from different corps who were also territorials.

After moving to Hawke's Bay in 2012 Brodie bought a Streetwise Coffee cart in Hastings. However, he maintained contracts to train police.

Those were terminated when he was convicted, a police spokeswoman said.