Murdered teenager's mother refutes British lies
By Mick Naughton.
As Scots Guards Mark Wright and James Fisher, convicted
of killing North Belfast teenager Peter McBride, appear
in a Belfast court this week, the campaign to have the
pair released gathers momentum.
But An Phoblacht can reveal that questions are being
raised about the attitude of senior commanders in
charge of the British Army in Belfast's New Lodge at
the time.
The commanding officer of the Scots Guards was Lt. Col.
Tim Spicer, who later became involved in an illegal
operation to hire mercenaries for service in Papua New
Guinnea.
Spicer appeared in court in Port Moresby, Papua New
Guinnea on Saturday 22 March last year and was charged
with possession of a Russian made Makarov pistol, 40
rounds of ammunition and $400,000.
Spicer was bailed into the custody of the British High
Commissioner.
The company Spicer was involved with was Sandline which
hired 70 mercenaries and had $36m at its disposal to
oust separatist guerrillas from a mine belonging to Rio
Tinto Zinc (RTZ) on the island of Bougainville off the
coast of Papua. An Phoblacht has learned that Spicer
had served in the North with the SAS.
d speaking to An Phoblacht, Mrs Jean McBride, the
dead man's mother says that Martin Bell MP, who has
added his weight to the campaign to have the pair
freed, knew Spicer when he served with the British Army
in Bosnia. Bell described Spicer as having a ``gung-ho
type of attitude''.
Mrs McBride believes her sons killers were ``hyped up''
as they went on patrol and were intent on avenging the
death of a member of their regiment shot dead by the
IRA in the area less than two weeks previously. Scots
Guard Damian Shackleton was killed in Duncairn Avenue
in the New Lodge area.The regiment's six months tour of
duty in the North was due to end days after the McBride
shooting.
Last weekend the killers were segregated within
Maghaberry because, according to an NIO statement, they
were threatened by other inmates. Some reports said
these were friends of Peter McBride. In dismissing
these claims Jean McBride said the move is a prelude to
their transfer to Scotland and early release.
As one figure after another from the British military
and political establishment joins the queue to have
these murderers freed the McBride family has reacted
with shock and anger, especially at the campaign in
British newspapers which have deliberately distorted
the facts of the killing.
On Saturday 21 February `The Scotsman' in its `Saturday
Essay' column by Trevor Royle called for Fisher and
Wright's early release. The writer failed to mention
that a Lance Sergeant from the Irish Guards, Mark
Swift, body-searched the youth and allowed him to go
on; before Fisher and Wright exchanged words with Mr
McBride and before they shot him.
Swift was not called to give evidence at the trial.
On 7 March the Daily Mail printed an article by Ludovic
Kennedy with misleading information. An editorial
supported Kennedy's article.
Former Comander in Chief of the British Army of the
Rhine, Sir Michael Gow told Kennedy that if he was in
Fisher and Wright's place he would have done as they
did, while Major David Walter of the Scots Guards
Association stated, ``the regiment would be pleased to
have them back. They are still serving soldiers''.
Kennedy said in the Mail that McBride was a republican
sympathiser, had not been searched by the British foot
patrol and was carrying an improvised grenade, a claim
made by the two killers but which was discounted at
their trial.
Jean McBride candidly pointed out that as her son was a
petty criminal he would not have been seen as a
``republican sympathiser''.
``He was just a young lad, never politically motivated
in any way and was hardly dressed for launching an
attack. Three witnesses gave evidence in court of
seeing him searched thoroughly before heading on down
the street. When he died the only thing found beside
him was a packet of cheese and onion crisps, and a
bap.''
She criticised Kennedy's use of quotes attributed to
her. Kennedy wrote, ``Peter McBride's mother has been
heard to mutter as she lay flowers on his grave `Oh
Peter, Peter, why didn't you stop?'''
``I have never spoken to the man in my life and have no
idea where he got the quotes. I have never spoken these
words,'' Jean McBride said.
Kennedy also published Mrs McBride's address in the
`Daily Mail'.
The Pat Finucane Centre, which specialises in human
rights abuses, have described the Scots Guards campaign
and their supporters as being of a ``deeply racist''
nature.
They point to the fact that the involvement of MPs,
former British Army Generals and the weight of the
British establishment press have reinforced the idea
that an Irish civilian's life is worth less than
others.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)