ROYAL Marine Alexander Blackman, who had his sentence reduced for shooting dead an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan, will be released from prison on Friday, the Justice For Marine A campaign group said.

Blackman, 42, from Taunton, was sentenced in March by appeal judges to seven years' imprisonment for the diminished responsibility manslaughter of the Taliban insurgent in Helmand Province in 2011.

The Court Martial Appeal Court ruled previously Blackman was suffering from an "abnormality of mental functioning" at the time of the killing when he was serving with Plymouth-based 42 Commando.

The Justice for Marine A campaign group had repeatedly posted that the time and date of Blackman's release would not be made public due to "privacy and safety concerns".

But in a statement posted on Facebook on Thursday afternoon, it said: "We are delighted to announce that Al will finally be released tomorrow after what has been a well fought battle by you all.

"We will of course be posting more updates but can we please remember that this is a tense time for the family and that they have asked for some privacy. #justiceformarineA".

The court found the incident was not a "cold-blooded execution", as a court martial had earlier concluded, but the result of an "adjustment disorder".

Blackman has already served more than three years in jail.

Mrs Blackman said her husband's release "can't come soon enough" and stressed that lessons must be learned from his case.

"There are huge lessons to be learned from this case in so many aspects, from the court martial process itself, through to the way that our servicemen and women are supported during particularly stressful circumstances," she told BBC Radio 4's Today.

Her husband had "never denied that his actions on that day were caused by a serious lack of judgment, which we now know to be due to a combat stress disorder", she said.

"He has always regretted his actions, if he could turn the clock back and undo that moment he would do, in a heartbeat."

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