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A ROYAL Marine who fatally shot an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan had his murder conviction replaced with a verdict of manslaughter yesterday.
The Court Martial Appeal Court in London gave a verdict of “manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.”
It ruled that Sergeant Alexander Blackman was suffering from an “abnormality of mental functioning” at the time of the 2011 killing.
Five judges found that the incident was not a “coldblooded execution” as earlier concluded, but the result of a stress-related mental illness known as adjustment disorder.
Mr Blackman, from Taunton, Somerset, who served with Plymouth-based 42 Commando, has spent more than three years in prison.
He was convicted in 2013 by a court martial in Bulford, Wiltshire, and sentenced to life with a minimum term of 10 years.
The term was later reduced to eight years because he was suffering from combat stress disorder. A further hearing will decide the sentence he now has to serve.
