The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Wife’s joy as Royal Marine likely to be released soon
Manslaughter sentence means soldier could be freed next month
The wife of Royal Marine Alexander Blackman, who fatally shot an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan, has spoken of her joy at the prospect of him coming home in a few weeks.
Claire Blackman said she was “overjoyed” after judges sentenced her husband to seven years for diminished responsibility manslaughter – meaning that because of time already served he could be freed next month. Surrounded by scores of veterans outside the CourtMartial Appeal Court in London, she 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.”
A panel of five judges, headed by Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas, sentenced Blackman, 42, from Taunton in Somerset, to the term of seven years following the recent quashing of his murder conviction for the 2011 killing.
Lord Thomas said: “As with any person sentenced to a determinate term, his release will ordinarily be at the halfway point of the sentence.”
Blackman, who watched Tuesday’s proceedings via video link, has already spent almost three-and-ahalf years in prison following his original conviction inNovember 2013 after the death of the insurgent.
One of Blackman’s legal team indicated that he would probably be released in about two weeks, but the decision on the exact date was for the Prison Service to determine.
The Court Martial Appeal Court ruled previously that Blackman was suffering from an “abnormality of mental functioning” at the time of the 2011 killing when he was serving with Plymouth-based 42 Commando.