British soldier who killed Afghan fighter freed from jail

A British soldier jailed for killing an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan was freed today after his sentence was reduced from murder to manslaughter, his lawyer said.

Former Royal Marine Alexander Blackman was jailed for life in 2013 for shooting the fighter at close range in Helmand Province on September 15, 2011, after the man was injured by helicopter fire.

The sentence was later reduced to eight years but a judge in March reduced this further to seven years, quashing the murder conviction and replacing it with one of manslaughter by diminished responsibility.

Blackman's lawyer Jonathan Goldberg told

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