Yahoo News Marine A to be released by Easter as lawyers hail his 'lioness' wife
A Royal Marine who fatally shot an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan could be freed from prison within weeks.
Sergeant Alexander Blackman, 42, from Taunton in Somerset, was sentenced to seven years in jail on Tuesday for diminished responsibility manslaughter following the recent quashing of his murder conviction.
Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, his wife Claire said: "We are overjoyed at the judges' decision to significantly reduce Al's sentence, such that he can be released imminently.
"This is the moment that we have all been fighting hard for. It is hard to believe that this day is finally here."
Mrs Blackman and her legal team were surrounded by banner-waving veterans as passing drivers honked their horns and champagne corks popped.
Her counsel, Jonathan Goldberg QC, described her as "the lioness who inspired us throughout".
"She has shown that ordinary people can do extraordinary things," he said.
"She kept the flame alive when the legal system had completely abandoned her husband.
"Her courage and her dignity have been amazing."
As a result of time already served since his original conviction in November 2013, the decision of five judges at the Court Martial Appeal Court means it is likely Blackman could be freed next month.
He has already spent almost three-and-a-half years in prison.
Announcing the seven-year term, the panel of judges, headed by Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas, said: "As with any person sentenced to a determinate term, his release will ordinarily be at the halfway point of the sentence."
At a hearing last week the judges heard that Blackman's legal team had calculated he would have served the equivalent of a seven-year determinate sentence by April 24.
Blackman watched the proceedings via video-link from prison.
After the judges left court, there was uproar in the public gallery with a huge outburst of cheering and clapping.
Many veterans gave the thumbs-up to Blackman.
One of Blackman's legal team indicated he would probably be released in about two weeks, but the decision on the exact date was for the Prison Service to determine.
Marine A, Sgt Alexander Blackman, in pictures
The court found the incident was not a "cold-blooded execution" as a court martial had earlier concluded, but the result of a mental illness, an "adjustment disorder".
The judges said Blackman had been "an exemplary soldier before his deployment to Afghanistan in March 2011", but had "suffered from quite exceptional stressors" during that deployment.
They found his ability to "form a rational judgment" was "substantially impaired".
Marine A verdict | Im delighted, says wife Claire Blackman
The Court Martial Appeal Court ruled previously that Blackman was suffering from an "abnormality of mental functioning" at the time of the 2011 killing in Helmand province when he was serving with Plymouth-based 42 Commando.
The court found the incident was not a "cold-blooded execution" as a court martial had earlier concluded, but the result of a mental illness, an "adjustment disorder".
The judges said Blackman had been "an exemplary soldier before his deployment to Afghanistan in March 2011", but had "suffered from quite exceptional stressors" during that deployment.
They found his ability to "form a rational judgment" was "substantially impaired".
Blackman was convicted of murder in November 2013 by a court martial in Bulford, Wiltshire, and sentenced to life with a minimum term of 10 years.
That term was later reduced to eight years on appeal because of the combat stress disorder he was suffering from at the time of the killing.
Marine A, Sgt Alexander Blackman, in pictures
Blackman shot the insurgent, who had been seriously 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 convulsed and died in front of him.
He told him: "There you are. Shuffle off this mortal coil, you c***. It's nothing you wouldn't do to us."
He then turned to comrades and said: "Obviously this doesn't go anywhere, fellas. I just broke the Geneva Convention."
The shooting was captured on a camera mounted on the helmet of another Royal Marine.
During his trial, Blackman, who denied murder and was known at that stage as Marine A, said he believed the victim was already dead and he was taking out his anger on a corpse.
Oliver Lee, a former colonel of the Royal Marines and Blackman's commanding officer in September 2011, welcomed the news.
He said: "I am very pleased that Sergeant Blackman has now been dealt with justly and fairly.
"This has been my sole intention throughout these proceedings.
"My hope now is that the many lessons from this tragic case will be learned and the Royal Marines can look forward to another 350 years of highly distinguished service."
Alan Logan, 72, a former Royal Marines sergeant from Rhuddlan, North Wales, said: "I think it's absolutely brilliant.
"I don't think he should have been there in the first place but the sense of relief to see him walking free!"
Mark Iles, 63, from Greenwich, south-east London, a former reservist in the Royal Artillery, served in Afghanistan and Iraq and came to court to "show solidarity".
He said: "The court martial, and the way he has been treated by the top brass, hung out to dry, it's got to be a betrayal of the armed forces covenant."
Another former sergeant with the Royal Marines, Gary Page, 66, had made the journey from his Bournemouth home.
He joked: "The car parking was expensive, the train fare extortionate, the result today priceless."
Alexander Blackman Marine A timeline
