Alexander Blackman, 'Marine A', says he 'regrets' killing injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan

The former soldier breaks silence after seeing his conviction reduced from murder to manslaughter on mental health grounds

Claire Blackman, wife of Alexandra Blackman, celebrates outside the High Court after Alexander Blackman's appeal was successful (Rex)

The man known as Marine A has broken his silence to admit he regrets killing an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan, saying he still “doesn’t know” why he did it.

Alexander Blackman, 42, was released from prison last month after his conviction for shooting a member of the Taliban was changed from murder to manslaughter following a lengthy court battle.

The killing was a breach of the Geneva Convention on how to treat injured enemy fighters and was captured on a camera worn by a fellow marine.

After three-and-a-half years in prison, Blackman had his sentenced reduced from 10 to seven years with psychiatrists arguing he was suffering from an “abnormality of the mind” when he fired the lethal gunshot, making him eligible for parole.

Blackman, who joined the Marines aged 23 and rose to the rank of sergeant, shot the injured Taliban insurgent in the chest before quoting a modified line from Shakespeare.

He told the fighter: “Now shuffle off this mortal coil, you c***.”

In an interview with the Daily Mail, he admitted: “I know I made a terrible mistake.

“I don’t know why I did it. I think about it a lot and have done ever since, but I still can’t put an exact thought to why I did what I did at that moment in time. I wish I could.

“It was frustration more than anything. There had already been a reasonably large attack on a friendly base. We didn’t know where the other guy (a second armed Taliban insurgent) was or if there was a third out there.

“You’re vulnerable all the time.”

He added that fighting in Afghanistan, he encountered improvised explosive devices “everywhere”.

When he found the Taliban fighter, he had “a hole in his back the size of my fist".

“I didn’t realise he was alive until I put my hands on him to search him. He was in a pretty bad state," Blackman said.

“Arguably, as I was approaching him, if I had fired at that point I would have been well within the rules of engagement because he was armed. But I thought he was dead.

“I could see his lungs. Of course, I’d have done things differently if it was one of the lads. I’d have thrown him on my shoulder and run him all the way to camp if necessary. But this was someone who’d been trying to kill us for the past six months.

“When I touched him, he opened his eyes. I got on the radio straight away and said, ‘He’s actually alive. We’re going to have to call a helicopter.’ I got a less than enthusiastic response.”

Blackman said that after giving the insurgent first aid and realising it would have taken 45 minutes to carry him back to base, he “made some choices, and I regret some of the ones I made".

He was unable to explain why he quoted from Hamlet.

“I have no idea why I said it. I don’t read Shakespeare," Blackman said.

After shooting the man, he said he realised he had “screwed up” immediately, and acknowledged this to the other marines, and the incident was “never spoken of again” between them.

He said: “The first time I even knew it existed on videotape was when I was arrested.”

His wife, Claire, spearheaded a campaign to have his conviction changed to one of manslaughter on the grounds of his mental health at the time of the incident, for which he was also “dismissed with disgrace” at a court martial.

The marine was placed on suicide watch during his first few weeks in prison.

“Dismissed with disgrace meant everything I’d done counted for nothing. Everything good before that and after that was washed away because of one incident. I struggled with that," he said.

Prior to the shooting, he had been judged a marine of impeccable moral courage who had progressed steadily through the ranks since joining in 1998, with tours in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan already behind him when he was sent to the Taliban stronghold for a second time.

His troop was assigned to take over the notoriously dangerous Nad Ali (North) district from the Parachute Regiment.

He said of the conditions out there: “It’s very hot, you’ve got a lot of kit (100lb of equipment) and you’ve got to spend the hottest part of the day out there.

“When you’re out there for six to 10 hours a day, you know each step could be your last. I know that sounds dramatic, but it’s true.”

Two of his colleagues were killed by explosions two months into the tour, while another marine was injured and had his leg amputated.

Blackman described how he found the legs of a teenage marine killed by the Taliban hung in a tree as a kind of trophy.

He said he felt he had to “bottle up” his feelings as one of the older and more experienced marines.

“You have to be strong for the lads. I was 36. Most of the lads were in their early 20s," he said.

He said he and his fellow marines had captured a pair of Taliban fighters but were left frustrated when the Afghan army, who British troops fought alongside, had decided to let them go.

A fresh psychiatric evaluation, paid for by campaigning, led to a diagnosis of a stress combat condition known as an “adjustment disorder”, leading the Appeal Court to change his murder conviction to one of manslaughter.

Looking forward to readjusting to life outside of prison with his wife, he said: “I think we’re lucky in this country that there’s an independent body that looks at cases with no agenda. I am very conscious my sentence is not complete (he is on licence until 2020) but it’s still a massive step.“