Two Marines acquitted of murdering wounded Afghan insurgent are named

High Court lifts anonymity order preventing publication of their identities

Corporal Christopher Glyn Watson and Marine Jack Alexander Hammond were acquitted in November of the murder of an insurgent in Afghanistan (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Two Royal Marines who were acquitted of the murder of an insurgent in Afghanistan have been named as Corporal Christopher Glyn Watson and Marine Jack Alexander Hammond.

The release of their identities follows a ruling this month at the High Court in London. It was confirmed by the court that an anonymity order preventing publication of their names had been lifted.

In November a court martial board in Bulford, Wiltshire, found Sergeant Alexander Wayne Blackman, 39, guilty of murdering the insurgent who had been seriously injured in an attack by an Apache helicopter gunship in Helmand province more than two years ago.

Watson and Hammond were acquitted while charges against a further two servicemen had been discontinued earlier.

Blackman, who is serving a life sentence, was previously referred to as Marine A. The acquitted men were known as Marines B and C.

Watson, 31, was an acting Lance Corporal at the time of the incident. He joined the Marines in 2008 and is a graduate of sports science from the University of Derby.

Hammond enlisted in the Royal Marines in 2009 - he was caught on video suggesting he shoot the prisoner in the head or the heart but said this was simply bravado.

The question of naming the two marines against whom charges were discontinued, referred to as Marines D and E, will be the subject of a further hearing and the ban on naming them remains in force pending any further order by the Judge Advocate General.