Former SAS sniper Sergeant Danny Nightingale has been given a suspended sentence after being convicted for a second time for the possession of a pistol and ammunition, while his family said they would take time to consider what they would do next to quash his conviction.
The senior NCO walked from court a free man but, along with his wife Sally and father Humphrey, he also left with a stinging rebuke from the judge who described their 22-month campaign to clear his name as misleading and uninformed and said any notion the special forces soldier was a scapegoat was “absolute nonsense”.
The family said they would now take time to reflect on whether there will be a further appeal in the fight, which has already cost the family £120,000 and put great strain on the couple, who have two children.
Outside the Military Court in Bulford, Wiltshire, Mrs Nightingale said: “We are very disappointed with the sentence yet we are pleased that Danny will be coming home tonight.”
Mrs Nightingale insisted the soldier did not regret his two-year fight but was unable to say whether the family could afford to continue the legal process.
The 38-year-old soldier from Crewe in Cheshire was originally jailed for 18 months last year for the offences but had his sentence cut and then quashed by the Court of Appeal after an outcry over his treatment spearheaded by his family and the media.
Nightingale was found guilty at a retrial at Bulford of having a 9mm Glock pistol and 338 rounds of ammunition in the bedroom of his shared army house in Hereford.
He said that he had no knowledge of the weapon and suggested it had been put there by a friend and fellow SAS soldier known only as soldier N.
At his sentencing hearing on Thursday, he was given two years’ military detention suspended for 12 months.
Passing sentence, Judge Blackett had strong words for those he felt had criticised the army and misled the debate about the case.
“While this case proceeded many people including you (Nightingale) have made numerous public statements, many of which were misleading.”
The judge said that Nightingale had “made up a spurious defence which falsely impugned the character of a fellow soldier and caused a number of SAS soldiers to risk their own security in giving evidence.
The soldier has received a medical discharge which will start on February 14 next year .
He had pleaded not guilty to possession of a prohibited firearm between November 26 2007 and September 16 2011, and had also denied possession of the ammunition.