Two Royal Marines corporals have been cleared at court martial of ill-treating junior colleagues.

Corporal Danny Foster, 30, and Cpl Philip Beer, 34, had been accused of setting punishments for marines during a daily after-work gathering called "Family Time" while serving at Faslane Naval Base.

The two defendants were acquitted by a panel of senior officers following a week-long court martial at Portsmouth Naval Base.

Cpl Foster had denied two charges of ill-treatment of a subordinate and Cpl Beer had denied a single count of the same charge.

Both defendants had denied being responsible for setting the punishments which were chosen by the participating marine through the throw of a dice during Family Time.

The trial heard that forfeits were also chosen through a game based on the television show Deal Or No Deal.

The allegations were said to have taken place while 5 Troop 43 Commando was tasked with guarding Faslane Naval Base, home of the fleet's nuclear submarines, as well as the Royal Naval Armaments Depot at Coulport, where the nuclear weapons are stored.

Cpl Foster told the court that he had been present during the game but had not been involved in choosing the forfeits or witnessed the actual punishments.

The alleged punishments had included hanging marines upside down naked and whipping them and forcing them to commit a sex act while watching gay porn.

Cpl Foster told the hearing that he had not been involved in setting the sex act punishment for Marine Connor Moore, one of the two alleged victims.

The court was told that Mne Moore alleged that he told Foster he would not do the forfeit to which he said the corporal replied: "Yes you f****** are."

Cpl Foster told the court: "The conversation didn't happen."

He also said that he was not present when the forfeits were carried out at the end of Family Time.

Mne Moore also claimed that Foster made him choose a particular forfeit during the game based on Deal Or No Deal.

Mne Moore claimed that Foster made him choose a box for the forfeit called Django which is based on the Quentin Tarantino movie Django Unchained and involved the marine being whipped while being hung upside down naked.

Foster said: "I wouldn't jump in on his game."

He denied that the Django punishment was a sign of Family Time "getting out of hand" and added: "If the lads were collectively happy to do that and had no issues with it then it was their decision."

He added that participation in Family Time was not compulsory and added: "Everybody attended Family Time because they thought it was a laugh and a good thing. It was voluntary."

When asked why he thought he had been accused by the victim, Foster said: "As a corporal I tried to be as professional as possible, the standards I set myself are quite high because I have watched people lose their lives for not hitting the standards they should be.

"I try to push those standards across to the lads to be the best they can be, I know I am robust but it's because I want them to be the best they can be."

The trial heard an accusation that Cpl Beer had instructed Mne Ryan Dunn to carry out a punishment called Newborn Baby which would involve shaving off all his body hair.

He was alleged to have asked another marine to inspect Mne Dunn the following day to ensure he had carried out the forfeit and when he had not done so, ordered him to carry out a further punishment. The trial heard evidence from the second marine who said that this had not happened.

The court also heard evidence that Cpl Beer had not acted as the Banker in the Deal Or No Deal game.