THE decision on a new sentence for Marine A Alexander Blackman has been delayed.

The former Royal Marine from Taunton, was in the Appeal Court today to be sentenced foir the manslaughter of an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan.

But judges have said the sentence will now be announced on Tuesday by the Court Martial Appeal Court as they need more time to look at documents.

His wife Claire Blackman looked visibly disappointed outside of court.

After the hearing, Mrs Blackman said: "We are obviously disappointed not to have a decision today, but we understand that the judges wish to consider this important matter with great care.

"We will patiently await their ruling."

Blackman, 42, has been in prison since November 2013 after footage of him shooting a mortally wounded Taliban fighter surfaced.

He was initially sentenced to a life sentence for murder, which was reduced to a minimum of eight years after an appeal.

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On March 15, five appeal court judges at the Court Martial Appeal Court ruled his conviction for murder should be reduced to manslaughter with diminished responsibility after new evidence of his mental state at the time of the shooting came to light.

Blackman appeared in court today via videolink, and his barrister Jonathan Goldberg QC urged the court to impose a term which will result in Blackman's immediate release from prison.

He said that "the incarceration of almost three and a half years which he has already served is already too much for his crime".

The judges had previously ruled that Blackman was suffering from an "abnormality of mental functioning" at the time of the incident.

When the court overturned the murder conviction, the judges found that 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".

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.

RELATED: Marine A has conviction reduced to manslaughter for killing Taliban fighter

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 in Helmand province while serving with Plymouth-based 42 Commando.

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

Blackman shot the insurgent, who had been seriously injured in an attack by an Apache helicopter, in the chest at close range with a 9mm pistol before quoting a phrase from Shakespeare as the man convulsed and died in front of him.

He told him: ''There you are. Shuffle off this mortal coil, you c***. It's nothing you wouldn't do to us.''

He then turned to comrades and said: ''Obviously this doesn't go anywhere, fellas. I just broke the Geneva Convention.''

The shooting was captured on a camera mounted on the helmet of another Royal Marine.

During his trial, Blackman, who denied murder and was known at that stage as Marine A, said he believed the victim was already dead and he was taking out his anger on a corpse.

He was ''dismissed with disgrace'' from the Royal Marines after serving with distinction for 15 years, including tours of Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland.

His wife Claire has spearheaded a campaign for him to be freed over the incident, and Marine A has garnered a loyal following over the last few years.

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Mrs Blackman went into the witness box to speak on her husband's behalf.

Asked by Mr Goldberg what she thought was the greatest punishment for him, she said: "The arrest and conviction were a huge shock, but I think it was the dismissal with disgrace which was the hardest aspect of the whole episode to bear."