9 September 1999 Edition
McBride decision welcomed
BELFAST High Court has overturned a British Army order that two soldiers convicted of murdering an unarmed father can remain in the ranks.
Gerry Kelly, Sinn Féin Assembly member for North Belfast, has welcomed the ruling last Friday, 3 September, that Scots Guards James Fisher and Mark Wright should be thrown out of the British Army.
Fisher and Wright were convicted of shooting Peter McBride, a North Belfast father of two, in the back after stopping and searching him in the New Lodge area of North Belfast in September 1992. Both soldiers were serving life sentences for the killing and had lost two appeals against the conviction before being released by British Secretary of State Mo Mowlam after serving six years.
Reacting to the ruling, Gerry Kelly said:
``Fisher and Wright shot an unarmed teenager in the back and then created a false story to cover their actions. The original decision to allow the killers of Peter McBride to continue serving in the British Army was a further calculated insult to Mrs McBride and her family.
``Throughout the years since her son was killed, Mrs McBride has conducted herself with dignity, unlike those in the British Establishment who sought to demonise the McBrides and their community in a bid to achieve the early release of these two men.''
Kelly added that the decision of the British Army to retain them within their ranks shows the value which the British military and authorities place on the lives of nationalists in the Six Counties.
``Any attempt by the British Army to retain the killers of Peter McBride within their ranks in defiance of the High Court will show once again that they believe themselves to be above the law. They have demonstrated this belief on countless occasions in the Six Counties throughout the past 30 years,'' Kelly said.
Gerry Kelly, Sinn Féin Assembly member for North Belfast, has welcomed the ruling last Friday, 3 September, that Scots Guards James Fisher and Mark Wright should be thrown out of the British Army.
Fisher and Wright were convicted of shooting Peter McBride, a North Belfast father of two, in the back after stopping and searching him in the New Lodge area of North Belfast in September 1992. Both soldiers were serving life sentences for the killing and had lost two appeals against the conviction before being released by British Secretary of State Mo Mowlam after serving six years.
Reacting to the ruling, Gerry Kelly said:
``Fisher and Wright shot an unarmed teenager in the back and then created a false story to cover their actions. The original decision to allow the killers of Peter McBride to continue serving in the British Army was a further calculated insult to Mrs McBride and her family.
``Throughout the years since her son was killed, Mrs McBride has conducted herself with dignity, unlike those in the British Establishment who sought to demonise the McBrides and their community in a bid to achieve the early release of these two men.''
Kelly added that the decision of the British Army to retain them within their ranks shows the value which the British military and authorities place on the lives of nationalists in the Six Counties.
``Any attempt by the British Army to retain the killers of Peter McBride within their ranks in defiance of the High Court will show once again that they believe themselves to be above the law. They have demonstrated this belief on countless occasions in the Six Counties throughout the past 30 years,'' Kelly said.