originally by: BBC News
published: 8 November 2013

A Royal Marine has been found guilty by a military court of murdering an injured Afghan insurgent, in what the prosecution called “an execution”. The sergeant, known only as Marine A, faces a mandatory life term over the shooting of the unknown man while on patrol in Helmand Province in 2011.

Two other marines were cleared.

Brigadier Bill Dunham, of the Royal Marines, said the murder – the first case of its kind – was “a truly shocking and appalling aberration”.

There were tears from the marines’ families as the verdicts were read at the Military Court Centre in Bulford, Wiltshire, on Friday.

Marine A, who will be sentenced on 6 December, was taken into custody, while the two other marines, known as B and C, are free to return to military service. An anonymity order granted last year to protect the men from possible reprisals remains in place.

Marine B had inadvertently filmed the murder, which happened on 15 September 2011, on his helmet-mounted camera and the footage was shown to the court during the two-week trial.

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