The wife of a marine given a life sentence for murder has said she feels like she is in a “terrible dream”.

Claire Blackman spoke for the first time since her husband Alexander Blackman, was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of ten years.

Blackman, whose mother is understood to live in Brighton, was filmed shooting dead an injured Taliban insurgent in Afghanistan.

A court was told the action took place “in cold blood” and Blackman was discharged with disgrace from the Royal Marines.

The 39-year-old was previously known as Marine A. Judge Advocate General Jeff Blackett told Blackman: “You treated that Afghan man with contempt and murdered him in cold blood.”

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mrs Blackman, a PR executive from Somerset, said: “He’s been convicted of murder but everything that defines Al points me and everyone who knows him in completely the opposite direction – he is not made that way.

“If you ask someone what murder is in this country they might say someone stabbing a little old lady in the high street.

“Death on active service in a war zone in somewhere like Afghanistan is, sadly, an everyday occurrence. I can’t really imagine the horror or the pressure those lads were under.”

Mrs Blackman said her husband was ashamed of his actions in Helmand Province, Afghanistan in September 2011.

She told the newspaper: “I still think I am going to wake up and find it’s been a terrible dream.

"If only one could rewind – hindsight is a wonderful thing.

“I am sure Al would love to just travel back in time and undo that moment. I don’t doubt it for a second. It’s been described as a moment of madness, a lack of judgment. He can’t undo it and he’s terribly ashamed of it but I still don’t think it should have led to where we are now.”

But the 42-year-old added both her and Blackman were overwhelmed by the support they had received, saying: “I no longer feel alone. It feels like the whole country is behind us.”