Judges: 'Marine A' Footage Could "Significantly Endanger" Lives

Three video clips of the killing of an insurgent by Royal Marine Alexander Blackman could not be released to the media because it would "significantly endanger" a large number of people, appeal judges have said.

The court was giving its reasons for refusing an application to make available the clips taken by Marine B, who captured the incident with a camera mounted on his helmet.

The judges, headed by Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas, said:

"It was said that in the three years since the video emerged, nothing had been seen that surpassed it in terms of radicalisation potential.

"Releasing it would therefore present a real threat to life, the members of the Armed Forces and the wider British public and to British interests overseas."

The Ministry of Defence argued that if the clips were made public, any broadcast would be recorded by the terrorist organisations and then used as propaganda to radicalise others.

Three other clips, which showed the landscape and some of the marines shortly before the killing, have been released.

The transcript and audio of all six clips and some stills are also in the public domain.

There was evidence from Peter Wilson, of the Office of Security and Counter-Terrorism at the Home Office, that the clips would provide terrorists with material they could use to underpin their "justification" for undertaking terrorist attacks against the western powers and to underpin their extremist narrative at a tactical and strategic level.

They would use it to argue that Western powers are corrupt, do not adhere to their own rules, such as the military rules of engagement and the Geneva Convention, and claim that this was the way the Armed Forces of the Western powers treat insurgents on the battlefield, he said.

The statement pointed to the increase in the ambitions, capabilities and scale of terrorist communications since 2013, the murder of Lee Rigby and the attacks that had taken place.

It concluded the footage would "trigger a tipping point" for many sympathisers into immediate violent action and create "a real and immediate risk to life".

The judges said they accepted that the media involved - the BBC, ITN, Times Newspapers Ltd, British Sky Broadcasting and Guardian News and Media - would show the clips responsibly.

"However, it is self-evident in respect of three video clips that such clips could be misused by others.

"The evidence in this case was overwhelming that these clips would be so misused."

There was no doubt, they added, that their release "would significantly endanger a large number of people, not only in the United Kingdom but elsewhere".

In addition, Claire Blackman gave a statement setting out advice received from the police and her fears for her own safety.