Justice for Sgt Blackman
Last week, Sergeant Alexander Blackman’s murder conviction was overturned. Finally, after nearly four years, he and his wife now have…
She’s the loyal wife who has spent years fighting for her husband’s freedom – and, last week, Claire Blackman was successful. As she stood on the steps of the Court Martial Appeal Court in London, her triumphant smile marked the end of a hard-won battle.
By reducing his conviction to manslaughter, five judges finally cleared the Royal Marine, Acting Colour Sergeant Alexander Blackman, of murdering a Taliban fighter.
He has already served more than three years behind bars, and his lawyers hope this means he will soon be released.
In September 2011, shortly after two of his comrades had been killed, the soldier had been manning a remote outpost that even the Marines’ chaplain refused to visit because it was ‘too dangerous’.
Later, footage showing the 42-year-old shooting a captured Taliban fighter emerged, and this led to him becoming the first serviceman convicted of murder in a war zone since World War II.
In December 2013, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to serve a minimum of 10 ( later reduced to eight) years behind bars.
‘ We’re delighted at the judges’ decision,’ Claire, 44, said last week. ‘This is a crucial decision, and one that much better reflects the circumstances that my husband found himself in during that terrible tour of Afghanistan.’
Her supporters were vocal – among them LBC Radio presenters, who raged when he was denied bail last December, and expressed delight when his conviction was reduced.
‘If we cannot look after the men and women who defend this country, well, frankly, what the bloody hell is this country about?’ said Nick Ferrari on his radio show last week.
‘The reason that we sleep safe in our beds is because of people like this bloke, and our police forces. When things go wrong – and they will go wrong… and if you’re a soldier or a police officer things can go tragically and fatally wrong – where is the support then?’
During the trials, it became clear that Sgt Blackman’s feelings of protectiveness over his fellow soldiers grew, and he began to take on patrols and ‘risks to himself’ to ensure they would all survive. This, combined with the isolation of command, left him under ‘quite exceptional’ stress, and suffering from an undiagnosed ‘adjustment disorder’.
The Royal Marine was on his sixth tour of duty, but just before his last deployment in March 2011, he also had to contend with the death of his father.
Professor Neil Greenberg, the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ lead on military and veterans’ mental health, who gave key evidence at the trial, said, ‘An adjustment disorder is the state of mind where a culmination of stresses so affect you that you’re no longer able to function properly.
‘Adjustment disorders vary hugely in severity; Sgt Blackman’s was at the severe end of the spectrum. When Sgt Blackman killed the insurgent, his judgement was so impaired he could not think through the consequences of his actions. Here was a man on whom his gruelling six-month tour of duty had taken a devastating toll.
‘He was a highly rated soldier with an exemplary record who had toured Iraq and Northern Ireland. But, by the time he pulled the trigger, he no longer cared about the values he held so dear; he just wanted to get himself and his men home safely.’
The trial cost millions and led to Oliver Lee – Sgt Blackman’s de facto Commanding Officer – resigning over what he saw as ‘the betrayal of a soldier’ and ‘a failure of moral courage by the chain of command’.
In despair, his wife began a campaign to free him. She wrote to thriller writer Frederick Forsyth, saying, ‘My husband is a fine, upstanding man who is trying to stay strong and better himself in a prison environment that is slowly eroding his strength and good humour.
‘His being there is such a waste of a life – and of taxpayers’ money – and I am writing to ask for your help in any way you can.’
Her plea was successful and, together, the pair organised a campaign to raise funds for a new legal team led by Jonathan Goldberg QC to appeal the conviction – an appeal that would eventually prove successful.
‘In a long career as defence counsel, I recall few cases that were prosecuted as remorselessly as this one from first to last,’ said the barrister last week. ‘And those ones involved dangerous criminals, not a hitherto exemplary British soldier driven way past his breaking point in an impossible war by hellish conditions and inadequate moral and material support.
‘The heroine, of course, is Claire Blackman. Without her indefatigable efforts to keep the flame alive on behalf of her husband and to get that debate in Parliament, none of this would have happened.’
Although the former soldier wasn’t in court for the hearing at which he was finally cleared, he spoke to his wife afterwards, and she said, ‘Al said a huge weight had been lifted. That means so much to us. We can start to think about the future now.’
That future should start imminently, as his legal team return to court this week to argue for his release, we can but hope justice will be done.
‘If we can’t look after the men who defend this country… what is this country about?’