After a short stint in the office, I headed to Westbury on my way to visit the jailed former Royal Marine Alexander Blackman. He is now in HMP Erlestoke, a Category C prison, set in beautiful countryside beside Salisbury Plain. As I arrived I heard some artillery guns firing, which must bring back memories to Mr Blackman, who served in the Royal Marines with great distinction until he was filmed shooting a fatally injured Taliban in Afghanistan. Mr Blackman says he believed the man was dead. He'd been hit by some armour-piercing rounds from an Apache helicopter during a firefight about an hour earlier. Once I'd parked my car, I wandered over to the visitor centre and met Mr Blackman's charming and dignified wife, Claire. I signed in and we waited together to be called over to the gates. Once there, we walked into a hut and were taken through security. When all the visitors had been screened, the gate was opened and we filed into a large room where the prisoners were sitting. Mr Blackman was by the door, so he was not hard to find. I immediately instructed him to sit by his wife, but he told me he was not allowed to, so we remained separated by a small table. I thought Mr Blackman looked better than the last time I visited. He has his life pretty well organised and he's also studying. We chatted alone for a few moments as Claire went off to kindly make us a cuppa. Aware that I was biting into their time together, I took my leave after we caught up and asked to be let out. I turned to wave farewell, but was never going to be noticed. Touchingly, they were holding hands across the table and deep in conversation; two special people grabbing what little time they had together. Again, I felt a surge of anger that this brave former Royal Marine could end up here when he has served his Queen and country so courageously and at our bidding. Anyway, we await the decision of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which has been looking at Mr Blackman's case since January. If they decide to put the case back into the courts, Mr Blackman's QC will apply for bail and he has little doubt that it would be granted. I drove back home with a mass of thoughts swirling through my head. I arrived back in the office late afternoon and settled down to deal with the normal load of constituency matters.