A British soldier sent to prison for murdering a Taliban fighter while serving in Afghanistan has had his conviction overturned.
Veteran commando Alexander Blackman, a Royal Marine, was today cleared of shooting dead the Taliban fighter in Helmand Province in 2011 and his sentence substituted for manslaughter.
The UK Appeal Court ruled the original sentence “unsafe” and a “miscarriage of justice”.
Blackman – who was known as Marine A for several years to protect him from a potential terrorist attack – was originally convicted of murder in November 2013 at a court martial in the UK and sentenced to life with a minimum term of 10 years.
He had shot the Taliban fighter – who had been badly injured in an attack by an Apache helicopter – in the chest at close range with a 9mm pistol before quoting a phrase from Shakespeare as the man died in front of him.
Blackman told the Taliban fighter: “There you are. Shuffle off this mortal coil, you c***. It’s nothing you wouldn’t do to us.”
He then turned to his comrades and said: “Obviously this doesn’t go anywhere, fellas. I just broke the Geneva Convention.”
The shooting was captured on a camera fixed to the helmet of another Royal Marine.
Sgt Blackman was “dismissed with disgrace” from the Royal Marines after serving with distinction for 15 years, including tours of Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland.
In May 2014, the Court Martial Appeal Court rejected a conviction challenge but reduced the minimum term to eight years, acknowledging he was suffering from combat stress disorder. During his trial Blackman, who denied murder, said he believed the victim was already dead and he was taking out his anger on a corpse.
He will face a new sentencing hearing within the next week but his legal team will argue for him to be released.
The decision at the Royal Courts of Justice in London today followed new evidence that he was suffering from combat stress when he shot a wounded Taliban fighter in Afghanistan. The ‘adjustment disorder’ – a recognized mental illness – muddled his mind at the point he pulled the trigger, said three top psychiatrists who diagnosed him.
Judges formally quashed Sgt Blackman’s murder conviction and commuted it to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. As manslaughter carries a lower sentence than murder, it is possible he will be released this month.
A massive media campaign in the UK ran for years so that the conviction could be overturned. Sgt Blackman, 42, will remain behind bars until his next court hearing.