Justice for Marine A ... and joyful reunion

At long last! More than four years after he was convicted of murder for killing a mortally wounded taliban insurgent, Sergeant Alexander Blackman will finally be freed from prison today and reunited with his wife Claire.

After all the false dawns and setbacks, it is a great day for all those campaigners, MPs and Armed Forces personnel who called for his release – and for the Mail readers whose generosity made it possible.

When the man then known only as Marine A was jailed for life in 2013, the Ministry of Defence and the top brass saw his life sentence as a fitting punishment and were happy to have him rot behind bars.

It was only with the tireless efforts of his supporters and of Mail readers who donated £800,000 to fund his appeal, but most of all the calm determination, l oyalty and unstinting love of Claire, that his appeal succeeded and his conviction was reduced.

the Mail repeats: we never condoned his actions, but argued that the sentence did not fit the crime committed by a soldier with an exemplary r ecord, under unimaginable battlefield pressure on the Afghanistan ‘tour from hell’.

In the coming days, the lessons of this case must be learned, in particular the actions of senior military figures who suppressed a report on mitigating factors to cover up their own incompetence and leadership failings.

But for now Sgt Blackman and his wife deserve some peace and quiet as they adjust to his return. the Mail, on behalf of its readers, wishes them all the best for their future together.