SOUTH Dorset MP Richard Drax has welcomed news that a former Royal Marine serving a life sentence for murdering a wounded Afghan captive faces the "real possibility" of having his conviction quashed.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has confirmed it is referring the conviction of Sergeant Alexander Blackman, also known as Marine A, to the Courts Martial Appeal Court.

Blackman was found guilty of murder at a Court Martial at the Military Court Centre, Bulford, Wiltshire, in 2013.

But the presentation of new evidence relating to Blackman's mental health at the time of the death in Helmand - and the fact that an alternative verdict of unlawful act manslaughter was not available during the trial - means the case will return to the court.

Mr Drax said: "The team which has worked on behalf of Alexander Blackman is simply delighted that the CCRC has decided there's a case for appeal. His QC will apply for bail as soon as he can and it would be wonderful if we can get him back to his wife for Christmas."

The decision marks the latest step in the fight by Blackman's wife, Claire, to clear her husband's name.

David James Smith, lead CCRC commissioner on the case, said: "We have scrutinised this murder conviction in minute detail and after a thorough investigation we have concluded that there are new issues - principally relating to Mr Blackman's state of mind at the time of the shooting - which in our view raise a real possibility that an appeal against conviction would now succeed.

"On that basis we are sending the case back to the Courts Martial Appeal Court so that a fresh appeal can be heard."