Chilli, Baz and others.
I doubt very much that any of you were in the court when the verdict was given out, and nor was I, so perhaps it might be best to familiarise ourselves with what Judge Advocate General Jeff Blackett actually said :::
He told Blackman that "he had disgraced the name of the British armed services and had put troops' lives at risk by his actions.
"This was not an action taken in the heat of battle or immediately after you had been engaged in a firefight," he said.
"Nor were you under any immediate threat - the video footage shows that you were in complete control of yourself, standing around for several minutes and not apparently worried that you might be at risk of attack by other insurgents."
Sounds pretty "in cold blood" to me, and to the Court Martial.
Blakett then went on to say :::
"This was your sixth operational tour and your second to Afghanistan in under 14 years of service," the judge said.
"We accept that you were affected by the constant pressure, ever present danger and fear of death or serious injury.
"This was enhanced by the reduction of available men in your command post so that you had to undertake more patrols yourself and place yourself and your men in danger more often.
"We also accept the psychiatric evidence presented today that when you killed the insurgent it was likely that you were suffering to some degree from combat stress disorder.
"While we acknowledge your personal circumstances and the immense pressure you were under, we note that thousands of other service personnel have experienced the same or similar stresses.
"They exercised self-discipline and acted properly and humanely; you did not."
Fred has told us that the court consisted of a panel of 7 officers, including 3 Royal Marine Officers. They will have heard all the evidence that was presented in the Court Martial and it would seem to me that a very thorough job was done by all involved. So I have no reason to doubt that a verdict of murder was correct.
As you were not in court, I'm not sure why you think differently from those in the know ?