A distinguished Royal Marines general has called for leniency towards a fellow commando who executed an injured Taliban insurgent in Afghanistan.
Major-General Julian Thompson refused to condemn the marine, who was convicted on Friday of murdering the seriously wounded prisoner in Helmand Province two years ago.
Thompson, who led 3 Commando Brigade during the Falklands War, told The Times a five-year prison term would be more suitable than life imprisonment.
The serviceman, a sergeant known as Marine A, was found guilty of murder following a two-week court martial and faces a mandatory life term.
Two others, known only as Marines B and C, were cleared of the same charge.
Thompson said the shorter prison term was more appropriate for a crime committed under the unique pressures of war.
He said that "obviously it was wrong and everyone in the Royal Marines is quite clear about that".
But he added: "The Royal Marines are a family and it feels as though a member of the family has transgressed.
"I am sad for the man who did it, in that he probably had a moment of stupidity. I feel for him as I would my own son who might do something stupid."
He said accepting an enemy's surrender on the battlefield was "a very, very dangerous time", and told the Daily Mail: "I have no sympathy for the man who was killed but Marine A did the wrong thing by shooting him.
"But I'm not going to stand around bad-mouthing him. I won't condemn him. It is like a member of the family who has broke the law – you don't reject them, but you support them
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