A Royal Marine convicted of killing a wounded Taliban fighter in Afghanistan has been jailed for seven years.
Sgt Alexander Blackman, 42, will be freed in weeks as he has already served more than three years in jail.
The sentencing came after an appeal court ruled that Blackman’s original murder conviction should be reduced to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
The 2011 killing took place after a British patrol base came under fire. One of two insurgents was seriously injured by gunfire from an Apache helicopter sent to provide air support, and the marines from 42 Commando found him in a field.
Blackman, from Taunton, was known as Marine A during the original trial process and fully identified after he was found guilty.
He was not at the Royal Courts of Justice in London for the sentencing but appeared at the hearing via a video link from prison.
Sgt Blackman’s wife, Claire, led a campaign alongside author Frederick Forsyth and the Daily Mail newspaper for his conviction to be re-examined. Claire Blackman and supporters outside Royal Courts of Justice on 28 March 2017
Standing outside court with her lawyers and cheering supporters, Mrs Blackman said she was “overjoyed” at the court’s decision.
She said it was the “moment we have all been fighting hard for”. Judges at the Court Martial Appeal Court in London had been told Blackman had a recognised mental illness at the time of the killing.
His defence team argued the conviction was “unsafe” and fresh psychiatric evidence, if available at the time, would have provided him with a “partial defence”.
In their sentencing remarks, the judges said that although Blackman’s responsibility was diminished, he “still retained a substantial responsibility for the deliberate killing”.
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