SOUTH Dorset MP Richard Drax has welcomed news that a former Royal Marine serving a life sentence for murdering a wounded Taliban fighter could be freed from prison within week.

Sergeant Alexander Blackman, 42, from Taunton in Somerset, was sentenced to seven years today for diminished responsibility manslaughter following the recent quashing of his murder conviction.

As a result of time already served since his original conviction in November 2013, the decision of five judges at the Court Martial Appeal Court means it is likely Blackman could be freed next month.

MP for South Dorset Richard Drax, who has been supporting Blackman's family with the appeal, said he is "over the moon" with the decision.

He said: "I have fought for more than three years to see the result we have got today. I am absolutely delighted for Alexander Blackman and his devoted wife Claire.

"They have never, at any stage, said Mr Blackman was innocent, however the reduction in sentencing reflects all the facts that have now been laid out in court and that the right verdict has been reached."

The marine has already spent almost three-and-a-half years in prison.

Announcing the seven-year term, the panel of judges, headed by Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas, said: "As with any person sentenced to a determinate term, his release will ordinarily be at the halfway point of the sentence."

Blackman's legal team calculated he would have served the equivalent of a seven-year determinate sentence by April 24.

Mr Drax said: "Mr Blackman can go home to his wife within days, which is where he belongs, and I am absolutely over the moon for both of them that his awful episode is over."

After the judges left court, there was uproar in the public gallery with a huge outburst of cheering and clapping.

Many veterans gave the thumbs-up to Blackman, who watched the proceedings via video-link from prison.

One of Blackman's legal team indicated he would probably be released in about two weeks, but the decision on the exact date was for the Prison Service to determine.

Outside court Sgt Blackman's wife Claire praised the 'wonderful' Richard Drax, MP for South Dorset for his work supporting the campaign.

The Court Martial Appeal Court ruled previously that Blackman was suffering from an "abnormality of mental functioning" at the time of the 2011 killing in Helmand province when he was serving with Plymouth-based 42 Commando.

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

The judges said Blackman had been "an exemplary soldier before his deployment to Afghanistan in March 2011", but had "suffered from quite exceptional stressors" during that deployment.

They found his ability to "form a rational judgment" was "substantially impaired".

Blackman was convicted of murder in November 2013 by a court martial in Bulford, Wiltshire, and sentenced to life with a minimum term of 10 years.

That term was later reduced to eight years on appeal because of the combat stress disorder he was suffering from at the time of the killing.

Blackman's wife Claire said outside court: "We are overjoyed at the judges' decision to significantly reduce Al's sentence, such that he can be released imminently.

"This is the moment that we have all been fighting hard for.

"It is hard to believe that this day is finally here."