AUSTRALIA’S most-decorated living war veteran unlawfully killed prisoners and committed other war crimes in Afghanistan, a judge ruled today.

Judge Anthony Besanko ruled that articles published in 2018 by the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Canberra Times were substantially true about a number of war crimes committed by former Special Air Service Regiment corporal Ben Roberts-Smith.

The judge found that Mr Roberts-Smith, a Victoria Cross recipient, “broke the moral and legal rules of military engagement” and disgraced Australia through his conduct.

Allegations included that Mr Roberts-Smith, killed a prisoner who had a prosthetic leg by firing a machine gun into the man’s back in 2009. 

He kept the man’s prosthetic as a novelty beer-drinking vessel.

The accusations also included that Mr Roberts-Smith had kicked an unarmed, handcuffed farmer off a cliff into a riverbed where he directed a soldier under his command to shoot the farmer dead in 2012.

Nick McKenzie, one of the reporters responsible for the contentious articles, said: “Today is a day of justice for those brave men of the SAS who stood up and told the truth about who Mr Roberts-Smith is — a war criminal, a bully and a liar.” 

Mr Roberts-Smith is considering an appeal against the verdict.