Marine A ‘home for Christmas’
THE overwhelming case to free a Royal Marine jailed for killing a fatally wounded insurgent can be revealed today.
Alexander Blackman’s lawyers will say he is a ‘man of integrity’ who deserves bail while awaiting the start of a fresh appeal against his murder conviction.
They will also highlight his acute ‘debt of gratitude’ to his supporters – including Daily Mail readers – as among the reasons he would not flee if released.
A former SAS chief has offered a £50,000 guarantee for the 42year-old sergeant’s bail application lodged at the weekend.
Major General John Holmes, who was director of all UK special forces, said: ‘I have supported Sgt Blackman’s cause since the outset.
‘I am more than happy to help stand his bail so that he can be Turn to Page 2
reunited with his family.’ Sgt Blackman’s lawyers will also submit a plea from his former commanding officer, hailing him as ‘a normal citizen tainted only by the impact of war’.
The application might be heard as early as Wednesday. If successful, it would see him reunited with his wife Claire the same day, and home in time for their seventh wedding anniversary next Monday.
Sgt Blackman, known at his court martial as Marine A, shot the Taliban insurgent who had been wounded during an attack on a British base in Afghanistan in 2011. He was sentenced to a minimum of ten years, later cut to eight.
Last week he was granted a fresh appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission which said there was ‘a real possibility’ his 2013 conviction would be quashed.
His lawyers believe he has a good chance of being granted release on bail pending the new appeal, which will not be heard until the summer or autumn. They want the bail hearing to be in public. Three further backers – Tory MP Richard Drax, writer Frederick Forsyth and former Marine John Davies – have offered identical £50,000 bail guarantees, known as sureties.
His lawyer Jonathan Goldberg, QC, will tell this week’s hearing: ‘Tens of thousands of ordinary people have contributed donations to the Justice for Sgt Blackman campaign organised by the Daily Mail which has paid the legal fees to prepare this fresh appeal.
‘Thousands of former Royal Marines have peacefully held rallies and demonstrated in Parliament Square and Birmingham.
‘He is a man of great integrity who acutely feels a duty and a debt of gratitude to them. He will follow due process meticulously.’ The judge at his original court martial observed he ‘would never have committed this sort of offence at home in the United Kingdom’.
His application says that the last time he was on bail, awaiting his court martial, he was allowed to work as ‘a heavy machine gun instructor to younger Marines, using live ammunition, which itself is manifestly exceptional for a person awaiting trial for murder and shows the confidence which his commanders must have placed in him’.
Sgt Blackman’s former commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Simon Chapman, has described him as ‘a caring and devoted family man’ who was destined for promotion to company sergeant major or even the rank of a commissioned officer, prior to the incident.
Sgt Blackman admitted making a split-second mistake on a ‘tour from hell’ that saw comrades tortured and their body parts hung from trees.
His supporters maintained that he had been locked up as a ‘political scapegoat’ for failings by top brass, that he was suffering from combat stress at the time of the shooting and supportive colleagues were prevented from testifying on his behalf.
His case will be considered by the Courts Martial Appeal Court which has the power to quash his murder conviction, commute it to manslaughter, or order a retrial.
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