New hope for jailed Marine
A FORMER Royal Marine serving a life sentence for murdering a wounded Afghan captive could have his conviction quashed following new evidence, a review has found.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission is referring the conviction of Sergeant Alexander Blackman to the Courts Martial Appeal Court.
Blackman, also known as Marine A, was found guilty of murder in 2013.
David James Smith, lead CCRC commissioner on the case, said: “There are new issues – principally relating to Mr Blackman’s state of mind at the time of the shooting – which in our view raise a real possibility that an appeal against conviction would now succeed.” An alternative verdict of unlawful manslaughter was also not available at trial.
Footage from another Marine’s helmetmounted camera showed Blackman, who was serving with Plymouth-based 42 Commando, shooting his injured victim in the chest in Helmand.
Blackman, of Taunton in Somerset, said during the trial he believed the victim was already dead and he was taking out his anger on a corpse. It will now be for the court to hear a fresh appeal and to decide the case.