John Benton (Inferno Earth)

Platoon Under-Leader John Benton was a non-commissioned officer of the Republican Security Forces at the Eastchester Scientific Labour Camp carrying out Eric Stahlmann's project on the parallel Earth which the Third Doctor visited.

Biography
Benton was trained in bomb disposal and aided Column Leader Lethbridge-Stewart by diffusing an IED planted by wthe Resistance at the New People's Parliament. (PROSE: I, Alastair)

When coming to assist the Brigade Leader, Benton was caught by the Primord Director Stahlmann and the infected technicians, and a handful of Stahlmann's ooze was rubbed across his face; he then mutated and became one of the creatures in a painful transformation, accelerated by the heat coming from the Earth. (TV: Inferno)

His fate, and indeed the fate of all the others who mutated, is not clear. Despite being able to survive the volcanic disaster, he may have been among the Primords killed by the Republican Security Forces when they partially rebuilt Great Britain's infrastructure to support the government's attempts to evacuate to another Earth. (PROSE: The Face of the Enemy)

Behind the scenes

 * Benton's rank insignia is that of a United States Marine Corps Staff Sergeant, most clearly visible in publicity photos . Coincidentally, it is of the type introduced in 1959, the same year the Republican Security Forces was said to have been established. (PROSE: The Schizoid Earth)
 * The title of Benton's rank, "Platoon Under-Leader", may be a relic from a very early draft of the script where and  differentiated the Inferno Earth from N-Space Earth. The real-world British Union of Fascists, whose rank structure inspired that of the RSF in-verse, used titles such as "Sub-Commander" and "Sub-Company Officer". The prefix "Sub-" is derived from Latin, the purely Germanic English equivalent would be "under" as in "".