Ben Roberts-Smith says defamation case defeat was a ‘terrible outcome’ as he returns to Australia

Ben Roberts-Smith has arrived back in Australia and spoken for the first time about the outcome of his defamation case against three newspapers. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

The disgraced former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has called a federal court civil judgment against him that found he committed war crimes a “terrible outcome” as he flew back into Australia.

The former SAS corporal, a recipient of the Victoria Cross and Australia’s most decorated living soldier, flew into Perth from New Zealand.