Ben Henriques comments on Alexander Blackman revised sentence in The Times Law Brief

Lawyers called on defence chiefs to take the mental health of the British military more seriously in the wake of a court ruling that the former Royal Marine who shot dead a wounded Taliban fighter will be freed from prison within weeks.

Senior judges sentenced Alexander Blackman yesterday to seven years for manslaughter. Blackman, 42, had his conviction for murder quashed earlier this month and the Court Martial Appeal imposed the revised verdict on grounds of diminished responsibility because he was found to be suffering a psychiatric illness at the time of the killing in 2011.

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Lawyer commentators pointed out that the court could have left Blackman’s sentence unchanged, even after his conviction was reduced to manslaughter. The substantial reduction, said Ben Henriques, a lawyer at London law firm Corker Binning, “clearly reflects sympathy for his mental illness”.

Read the full article in The Times Law Brief here.