Wife watches MPs demand justice for ‘extraordinary man’
THE wife of Sergeant Alexander Blackman watched in dignified silence yesterday as MPs called the marine an ‘extraordinary’ man who was a victim of a ‘miscarriage of justice’.
Four former marines – including his colleague Cassidy Little, who lost a leg while on patrol in Afghanistan – joined the family of Sergeant Blackman in the packed public gallery at Westminster Hall.
They looked on as a string of MPs called for his case to be urgently considered for an appeal. There was also repeated praise for the Mail’s campaign to highlight the many facts which were not considered during his original trial for shooting a fatally wounded Taliban militant.
Tory MP Richard Drax, a former army officer who secured the debate, told MPs its main aim was ‘to highlight a miscarriage of justice’. He said: ‘He was fighting a war at our behest on our behalf. His small patrol were given an impossible mission with little support or command structure, undermanned and overstretched, the impossible was demanded and a decent man was pushed beyond endurance.’
He added: ‘Sergeant Blackman was,
‘He was pushed beyond endurance’
and is, no cold-blooded killer, just a man pushed to the very edge, a man sent to do a filthy job with his hands tied behind his back. A man who is now no threat at all to anyone, who is paying a terrible price for a lapse of judgement, a man who deserves another hearing and who should be allowed to go home to his wife.’
Conservative Johnny Mercer, who completed three tours of Afghanistan, said Blackman had been serving in the ‘darkest place in Helmand’.
Mr Mercer said: ‘I am no apologist for Marine A. I have been in his position as have many others. We have not broken the law, we have not stepped over the abyss as he did.’ But he added: ‘We must never take the faults of a system or policy, generated by the demands placed upon our men, and hang them around one individual’s neck as has happened in this case.’
Tory MP James Heappey, a veteran of the Afghanistan war, said: ‘I have no doubt from everything I have read that Sergeant Blackman was an extraordinary junior commander.
‘But the reality is when you are in junior command positions, in isolated patrol bases, there is a responsibility on you to be unbreakable. You do not even take half a step backwards. It is incumbent on the chain of command to see how they are – and if they need a few days out of the line, to invent a reason to get them down to Camp Bastion so they can recuperate.’
The MPs also focused on the fact that the military court – which was not in possession of all the facts – only returned a guilty verdict by 5-2.
Tory MP Sir Roger Gale said: ‘This man was tried by a military court. It did not even reach a unanimous verdict. If it had been an ordinary court, where the case was tried in an ordinary way by 12 good men and true, I do not believe this man would ever have been found guilty. It was not an ordinary court; it was a rigged court.’
Colonel Bob Stewart said: ‘As a former commanding officer, I find it extraordinary that this group was left in the same position, one of huge danger, for the whole six months.’ He added: ‘If this had not happened, this sergeant would definitely be on the list for a Conspicuous Gallantry Cross.’
The DUP’s Jim Shannon, himself a former soldier, said: ‘Given the injustices surrounding the court case, I am not surprised that the Daily Mail dubbed Sergeant Blackman a “political scapegoat”. Well done to the Daily Mail for highlighting the case and giving us the chance to find out more about the background. ‘
And Labour’s Yvonne Fovargue called on the Ministry of Defence to release all the papers relating to the case. She added: ‘We owe it to everyone involved to ensure that justice has been done.’