One worst-case possibility in the “Sergeant A” Afghanistan murder trial, is that the patrol were trying to make a snuff movie. The puerile taped dialogue sounds that way.
But that’s looking at it from a Forces’ PR perspective, as this could have got Sergeant A off the murder charge…
The guy could have been dead, but to make the movie, they spoke as if he was still alive…? Nobody proved he was dead, and you can’t murder a dead man. Reasonable doubt?
But headcam “soldier porn” is about firefights and military action. So although this theory could have got Sergeant A off, it doesn’t work me… I hope he uses it in his appeal… but I wouldn’t blame him if he doesn’t want to.
But was he playing up to the camera? (Soldiers do). So why the fuck are they still allowed to go on operations wearing private headcams?
In every way, headcams are a very dangerous distraction: in a contact you think of turning them on rather than emptying your magazine at the enemy. You film your mate dying then wish the hell you hadn’t, but can’t bear to erase it. They get you incriminated for murder…
Had their patrol been captured , this video would have been very much worse… Their footage, and then some additional by their captors detailing a few Taliban interrogation techniques then the summary executions, would been on the internet within hours.
So, was there actually a murder? Nobody knows! And if even if the video shows the man still moving, that doesn’t alter what the participants genuinely believed. With really savagely wounded people, they’re dead even while screaming – or you wish they were…
By failing to find out what actually happened on this patrol, everyone from court martial judge Jeff Blackett, the Service Investigation Branch and police, the Royal Marines and of course the media et al have failed dismally.