26.2.05

BBC

Family want 'killers out of army'


Peter McBride snr wants his son's killers out of the Army

The family of a Belfast teenager shot dead by two soldiers in 1992 have again called on the Army to throw them out.


Peter McBride

It follows the dismissal "in disgrace" of three soldiers who abused prisoners in Iraq on Friday.

In 1995 Scots Guards Mark Wright and James Fisher were convicted of Peter McBride's murder. They rejoined their regiment when released in 1998.

Mr McBride's father, Peter snr, said the family cannot understand why the army allowed the soldiers back in.

"(General) Mike Jackson is contradicting himself if he is coming out and making the statement that they let the Army down and all. What about Peter?

"Did them two not let the Army down? I wish he would make a statement on that, I would like to meet him face to face and ask him what's the difference," he said.

Wright and Fisher were found guilty of killing the 18-year-old as he ran away from a military checkpoint in the New Lodge district of north Belfast in 1992.

The soldiers' claim that they opened fire because they thought Mr McBride was carrying a coffee jar bomb was rejected, and they were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder.

In June last year a military watchdog said that the Army had been wrong to readmit the men.

The Independent Assessor of Military Complaints Procedures, Jim McDonald, insisted the decision dealt a major blow to the forces' reputation.

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