Known as Marine A before an anonymity order was lifted, Blackman was originally sentenced to life in prison after killing an injured Afghan insurgent in 2011, which was recorded by a fellow Marine\u2019s helmet camera.<\/p>\n
The upcoming documentary features never-before-seen footage and an interview with Blackman himself, detailing \u201cone of the most controversial events in the 20-year war on terror\u201d.<\/p>\n
But who is Alexander Blackman \u2013 Marine A \u2013 and where is he now? Here\u2019s everything you need to know.<\/p>
Who was Marine A \u2013 Alexander Blackman?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n ![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> Supporters of British Sergeant Alexander Blackman hold up a banners outside the Royal Courts of Justice in 2017<\/span><\/figcaption> Photo by Jack Taylor\/Getty Images<\/i><\/span><\/div>\nAlexander Blackman, who was previously only identified as Marine A, was the first British soldier to be convicted of murder on a foreign battlefield since World War II.<\/p>\n
In September 2011, whilst serving with the Royal Marines during the War in Afghanistan, Blackman shot a wounded Taliban fighter in the Helmand Province.<\/p>\n
Blackman and his team had found the insurgent when sent to examine in an area targeted by an Apache helicopter. The wounded insurgent was armed with a \u201chigh explosive grenade\u201d and \u201can AK47\u201d however according to a court document<\/a>, \u201che was no threat to anyone\u201d.<\/p>\nThe insurgent was then dragged across a field and shot by Blackman at close range in the chest, with him saying the words: \u201cShuffle off this mortal coil, you c**t. It\u2019s nothing you wouldn\u2019t do to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to BBC News<\/a>, he then added: \u201cObviously this doesn\u2019t go anywhere fellas. I just broke the Geneva Convention.\u201d<\/p>\nThe incident was filmed on a fellow marine\u2019s helmet-mounted camera and in October 2012, Blackman and four other marines (named Marines B-E) were charged with the murder of the Afghan insurgent after the footage came to light.<\/p>\n
Whilst the charges against Marines D and E were dropped, Marines A (Blackman), B and C pleaded not guilty and in October 2012, an interim order prohibiting the identification of all five Marines was made on the grounds that there was \u201ca real and immediate risk to their lives<\/a>\u201c.<\/p>\nIn November 2013, the Board of the Court Martial found Marine A guilty of murder but acquitted Marines B and C.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving removed his AK47, magazines and a grenade, [Marine A] caused him to be moved to a place where [Marine A] wanted to be out of sight of your operational Headquarters at Shazad so that, to quote what [Marine A] said: \u2018PGSS can\u2019t see what we\u2019re doing to him,’\u201d the Board\u2019s findings said.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Marine A] intended to kill him and that shot certainly hastened his death. He then told his patrol they were not to say anything about what had just happened and [he] acknowledged what [he] had done by saying that [he] had just broken the Geneva Convention. The tone and calmness of [his] voice as [he] commented after [he] had shot him were matter of fact and in that respect they were chilling.\u201d<\/p>\n
In December of that year, the High Court lifted the anonymity order that prevented Blackman from being identified, with Blackman being sentenced to life in prison.<\/p>\n
The other Marines were acquitted and returned to their units to continue serving in the Royal Marines.<\/p>\n
In May 2014, the Court Martial Appeal Court upheld Blackman\u2019s life sentence but reduced his minimum term to 10 years. This was due to Blackman having \u201can outstanding service record\u201d and \u201cthe effects on him from the nature of the conflict in Afghanistan\u201d the most serious of which being \u201cstress\u201d, according to the judgment<\/a>.<\/p>\nWhere is Alexander Blackman now?<\/strong><\/h2>\n ![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> Alexander Blackman and his wife Claire Blackman.<\/span><\/figcaption> Channel 4<\/i><\/span><\/div>\nIn March 2017, the Court Martial Appeal Court reduced Blackman\u2019s conviction to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, with it being revealed at the hearing that Blackman had a \u201crecognised mental illness\u201d at the time of the shooting, BBC News<\/a> reported.<\/p>\nIn the ruling, the judges states that Blackman had suffered from \u201cquite exceptional stressors\u201d and that it was \u201cclear that a consequence was that he had developed a hatred for the Taliban and a desire for revenge\u201d. They added that the stressors and his adjustment disorder were factors in \u201csubstantially\u201d impairing his ability to form rational judgement.<\/p>\n
This reduced Blackman\u2019s sentence and being given credit for time served already, he was released from prison on 28th April 2017.<\/p>\n
In 2019, Blackman appeared on shows like Good Morning Britain<\/a> and Lorraine<\/a> to talk about his story, saying that he was working for a veteran support company before funding ran out.<\/p>\nHe also wrote an autobiography that year titled Marine A: The Truth about the Murder Conviction.<\/p>\n
Blackman is set to appear in War and Justice: The Case of Marine A in a rare interview, Channel 4 has revealed.<\/p>\n
Marine A airs on Channel 4 at 9pm on Sunday 31st July. Read more of our Documentary<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what else is on.<\/strong><\/p>\nThe latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0Radio Times podcast<\/a>\u00a0with Jane Garvey.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Lauren Morris Published: Thursday, 28 July 2022 at 12:00 am Airing on Channel 4 this Sunday is War and Justice: The Case of Marine A \u2013 a documentary special looking at Alexander Blackman, the first British soldier to be convicted of murder on a foreign battlefield since World War II. Known as Marine A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":19352,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/war-and-justice-the-case-of-marine-a-true-story-where-is-alexander-blackman-now-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/war-and-justice-the-case-of-marine-a-true-story-where-is-alexander-blackman-now-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/war-and-justice-the-case-of-marine-a-true-story-where-is-alexander-blackman-now-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/war-and-justice-the-case-of-marine-a-true-story-where-is-alexander-blackman-now-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/war-and-justice-the-case-of-marine-a-true-story-where-is-alexander-blackman-now-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/war-and-justice-the-case-of-marine-a-true-story-where-is-alexander-blackman-now-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/war-and-justice-the-case-of-marine-a-true-story-where-is-alexander-blackman-now-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Lauren Morris Published: Thursday, 28 July 2022 at 12:00 am Airing on Channel 4 this Sunday is War and Justice: The Case of Marine A \u2013 a documentary special looking at Alexander Blackman, the first British soldier to be convicted of murder on a foreign battlefield since World War II. Known as Marine A…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/19351"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/07\/GettyImages-653496250-18abb40.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Alexander Blackman, who was previously only identified as Marine A, was the first British soldier to be convicted of murder on a foreign battlefield since World War II.<\/p>\n
In September 2011, whilst serving with the Royal Marines during the War in Afghanistan, Blackman shot a wounded Taliban fighter in the Helmand Province.<\/p>\n
Blackman and his team had found the insurgent when sent to examine in an area targeted by an Apache helicopter. The wounded insurgent was armed with a \u201chigh explosive grenade\u201d and \u201can AK47\u201d however according to a court document<\/a>, \u201che was no threat to anyone\u201d.<\/p>\n The insurgent was then dragged across a field and shot by Blackman at close range in the chest, with him saying the words: \u201cShuffle off this mortal coil, you c**t. It\u2019s nothing you wouldn\u2019t do to us.\u201d<\/p>\n According to BBC News<\/a>, he then added: \u201cObviously this doesn\u2019t go anywhere fellas. I just broke the Geneva Convention.\u201d<\/p>\n The incident was filmed on a fellow marine\u2019s helmet-mounted camera and in October 2012, Blackman and four other marines (named Marines B-E) were charged with the murder of the Afghan insurgent after the footage came to light.<\/p>\n Whilst the charges against Marines D and E were dropped, Marines A (Blackman), B and C pleaded not guilty and in October 2012, an interim order prohibiting the identification of all five Marines was made on the grounds that there was \u201ca real and immediate risk to their lives<\/a>\u201c.<\/p>\n In November 2013, the Board of the Court Martial found Marine A guilty of murder but acquitted Marines B and C.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving removed his AK47, magazines and a grenade, [Marine A] caused him to be moved to a place where [Marine A] wanted to be out of sight of your operational Headquarters at Shazad so that, to quote what [Marine A] said: \u2018PGSS can\u2019t see what we\u2019re doing to him,’\u201d the Board\u2019s findings said.<\/p>\n \u201c[Marine A] intended to kill him and that shot certainly hastened his death. He then told his patrol they were not to say anything about what had just happened and [he] acknowledged what [he] had done by saying that [he] had just broken the Geneva Convention. The tone and calmness of [his] voice as [he] commented after [he] had shot him were matter of fact and in that respect they were chilling.\u201d<\/p>\n In December of that year, the High Court lifted the anonymity order that prevented Blackman from being identified, with Blackman being sentenced to life in prison.<\/p>\n The other Marines were acquitted and returned to their units to continue serving in the Royal Marines.<\/p>\n In May 2014, the Court Martial Appeal Court upheld Blackman\u2019s life sentence but reduced his minimum term to 10 years. This was due to Blackman having \u201can outstanding service record\u201d and \u201cthe effects on him from the nature of the conflict in Afghanistan\u201d the most serious of which being \u201cstress\u201d, according to the judgment<\/a>.<\/p>\n In March 2017, the Court Martial Appeal Court reduced Blackman\u2019s conviction to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, with it being revealed at the hearing that Blackman had a \u201crecognised mental illness\u201d at the time of the shooting, BBC News<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n In the ruling, the judges states that Blackman had suffered from \u201cquite exceptional stressors\u201d and that it was \u201cclear that a consequence was that he had developed a hatred for the Taliban and a desire for revenge\u201d. They added that the stressors and his adjustment disorder were factors in \u201csubstantially\u201d impairing his ability to form rational judgement.<\/p>\n This reduced Blackman\u2019s sentence and being given credit for time served already, he was released from prison on 28th April 2017.<\/p>\n In 2019, Blackman appeared on shows like Good Morning Britain<\/a> and Lorraine<\/a> to talk about his story, saying that he was working for a veteran support company before funding ran out.<\/p>\n He also wrote an autobiography that year titled Marine A: The Truth about the Murder Conviction.<\/p>\n Blackman is set to appear in War and Justice: The Case of Marine A in a rare interview, Channel 4 has revealed.<\/p>\n Marine A airs on Channel 4 at 9pm on Sunday 31st July. Read more of our Documentary<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what else is on.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0Radio Times podcast<\/a>\u00a0with Jane Garvey.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Lauren Morris Published: Thursday, 28 July 2022 at 12:00 am Airing on Channel 4 this Sunday is War and Justice: The Case of Marine A \u2013 a documentary special looking at Alexander Blackman, the first British soldier to be convicted of murder on a foreign battlefield since World War II. Known as Marine A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":19352,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/war-and-justice-the-case-of-marine-a-true-story-where-is-alexander-blackman-now-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/war-and-justice-the-case-of-marine-a-true-story-where-is-alexander-blackman-now-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/war-and-justice-the-case-of-marine-a-true-story-where-is-alexander-blackman-now-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/war-and-justice-the-case-of-marine-a-true-story-where-is-alexander-blackman-now-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/war-and-justice-the-case-of-marine-a-true-story-where-is-alexander-blackman-now-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/war-and-justice-the-case-of-marine-a-true-story-where-is-alexander-blackman-now-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/war-and-justice-the-case-of-marine-a-true-story-where-is-alexander-blackman-now-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Lauren Morris Published: Thursday, 28 July 2022 at 12:00 am Airing on Channel 4 this Sunday is War and Justice: The Case of Marine A \u2013 a documentary special looking at Alexander Blackman, the first British soldier to be convicted of murder on a foreign battlefield since World War II. Known as Marine A…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/19351"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Where is Alexander Blackman now?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/07\/alexander-blackman-channel-4-18f441e.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"