My son was on that tour from hell. Any of his comrades could have reacted like jailed Marine
THE MOTHER of a decorated war hero who lost his life serving alongside Alexander Blackman yesterday backed the jailed commando’s campaign for justice, saying: ‘Any of the lads could have reacted in that way.’
Defence chiefs have admitted commanders failed to spot the warning signs of ‘psychological strain and fatigue’ in Sergeant Blackman’s unit.
Retired headmistress Serena Alexander said everyone in the unit was ‘dreadfully traumatised’ by the tour, which claimed the life of her son Sam, 28, and six of his comrades. It also injured 40 others, and left many suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Marine Alexander, who had previously won the Military Cross for extreme bravery – saving lives despite having been shot himself – was killed by a Taliban improvised bomb while on patrol in Helmand Province.
The 2011 ‘tour from hell’ culminated in Sgt Blackman losing control and shooting a wounded Taliban gunman.
Yesterday Mrs Alexander, 60, said: ‘I can see that any of the lads could have reacted in that way. The man who died had been stalking and attacking them, so it’s not unnatural to turn around and shoot someone. It could have been any of the lads. It could have been any of us I suppose is what I’m really saying.’
Offering her staunch backing to Sgt Blackman and his wife Claire, she said: ‘It’s very hard for us to judge how our loved ones would behave under that sort of pressure so, therefore, I have all the sympathy for her [Claire]. I feel very sorry for his family in this situation, so he definitely has my support.’
Blackman is the only British serviceman known to have been convicted of murder on a foreign battlefield. The insurgent he killed in September 2011 had already been horrifically injured attacking a British outpost.
Mrs Alexander, who lives in Hammersmith, West London, said Sgt Blackman should have faced a l esser charge of manslaughter, which she believes would have been reasonable ‘ given the stress that the boys are under’. She added: ‘I can see it’s a stress reaction against someone who has been hunting you until a few minutes beforehand.’
A Mail investigation has discovered that Colonel Oliver Lee, the youngest Marine to achieve the rank of colonel since the Second World War, quit his career in disgust because he was blocked from giving evidence to Sgt Blackman’s court martial. He would have attempted to put the shooting into the context of the stress the men were under, as the Taliban killed and maimed their comrades and hung their mutilated limbs from trees.
Blackman’s new legal team say the option of manslaughter was never considered. Mrs Alexander said: ‘I think manslaughter on diminished responsibility would be entirely correct, given the stress they were under. It is impossible for us as civilians to judge what it’s like out there, so it needs someone who actually has been there. We can’t judge, we weren’t there.’
Three and a half months before the Blackman shooting, Marine Alexander, who was born in Hammersmith in 1982, was killed in a Taliban attack. An i mprovised explosive device, hidden in an archway, also claimed the lives of Lieu- tenant Ollie Augustin, 23, and their Afghan interpreter – and severely wounded several others. Marine Alexander left a wife, Claire, and a son who was less than a year old.
The Marine’s mother said: ‘Alexander Blackman wasn’t with them when the bomb went off, but they certainly all knew each other. In Sam’s unit there were six caught up in the explosion, of whom three were killed, and the other six had to go in and literally pick up the pieces of their comrades.
‘They were obviously extremely traumatised. I’ve met them all. And that was only one of several explosions J-Company had to deal with.
‘I know that some of those lads have suffered very severely from post-traumatic stress disorder ever since. Sgt Blackman was there in Helmand when Sam died, so of course he would have been affected by it, and if people are still moved by his death now, imagine what it would have been like at the time.’
Mrs Alexander said it was her son’s second tour of Afghanistan – the first was in 2009 – and he had spoken about how difficult the conditions were. She added: ‘If you think of the explosion that killed Sam and Ollie and the interpreter, that was a remotely-operated IED – someone had wired it up and waited for them, then triggered it.
That’s the sort of event that those boys had to see, day in, day out, when they were out there.’
Marine Alexander, who was educated at St Paul’s School in London, was awarded the Military Cross for his one-man charge on enemy fighters, despite having been shot in the head himself. His ‘ferocious’ assault provided cover for medics to save a wounded soldier – and forced his enemies to flee. His mother still has a photo of her son showing his helmet with the bullet hole.
Mrs Alexander said: ‘ I was extremely proud of him, I always knew he was special and he proved it.’ She added: ‘Sam wanted to help people so if any good can come of his death, then it’s a good thing. That’s all Sam wanted to do, that’s why he joined the Marines.’
‘We can’t judge, we weren’t there’