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| Marine Alexander Blackman conviction reduced to manslaughter | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A Royal Marine, jailed for shooting an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan, has had his murder conviction reduced to manslaughter by an appeal court. | A Royal Marine, jailed for shooting an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan, has had his murder conviction reduced to manslaughter by an appeal court. |
| Sgt Alexander Blackman, 42, from Taunton, Somerset, has already served three years of a life sentence. | |
| Five judges at the Court Martial Appeal Court in London ruled the conviction should be "manslaughter on the ground of diminished responsibility". | Five judges at the Court Martial Appeal Court in London ruled the conviction should be "manslaughter on the ground of diminished responsibility". |
| A further hearing will now decide what sentence Blackman should serve. | A further hearing will now decide what sentence Blackman should serve. |
| Blackman was not in court to hear the decision. | |
| The marine had a recognised mental illness at the time of the shooting in 2011, the hearing had been told. | |
| His defence team argued that fresh psychiatric evidence, if available at the time, would have provided him with the "partial defence of diminished responsibility". | |
| The panel of judges were urged to overturn the "unsafe" murder conviction. | |
| Sgt Blackman's wife, Claire, said she was "delighted" with the ruling. | |
| "This is a crucial decision and one which better reflects the circumstances my husband found himself in during that terrible tour in Afghanistan," she said. | |
| 'Mortal coil' | |
| In Afghanistan in 2011, Blackman shot an insurgent, who had been seriously injured in an attack by an Apache helicopter, in the chest at close range with a 9mm pistol. | |
| Footage of the incident was captured on a camera mounted on the helmet of another Royal Marine. | |
| A court martial heard that Blackman used abusive language and said: "There you are. Shuffle off this mortal coil." | |
| It was then alleged that he then turned to his comrades and said: "Obviously this doesn't go anywhere, fellas. I just broke the Geneva Convention." | |
| During his trial, Blackman, who denied murder, said he believed the victim was already dead and he was taking out his anger on a corpse. |