A Royal Marine, jailed for shooting an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan, has had his murder conviction reduced to manslaughter by an appeal court. Sgt Alexander Blackman, 42, from Taunton, Somerset, had been given a life sentence in 2013. Five judges at the Court Martial Appeal Court in London ruled the conviction should be “manslaughter on the ground of diminished responsibility”.
A further hearing will now decide what sentence Blackman should serve. Blackman was not in court to hear the decision. The marine had a recognised mental illness at the time of the shooting in 2011, the hearing had been told. His defence team argued that fresh psychiatric evidence, if available at the time, would have provided him with the “partial defence of diminished responsibility”. The panel of judges were urged to overturn the “unsafe” murder conviction.
Sgt Blackman’s wife, Claire, said she was “delighted” with the ruling. “This is a crucial decision and one which better reflects the circumstances my husband found himself in during that terrible tour in Afghanistan,” she said.
Source www.bbc.co.uk
Be the first to comment