McBride family go to court
In an unprecedented legal move the family of murdered Belfast
teenager Peter McBride have lodged a legal challenge in Belfast High
Court against the MOD decision to allow the two Scots Guardsmen Mark
Wright and James Fisher convicted of Peter's murder to remain on
active service with their regiment.
Application for leave to apply for a judicial review was granted at
the High Court on Wednesday. At the hearing legal representatives
for the McBride family will seek to quash the Army Board decision to
retain the killers on the basis that ``the said decision is unlawful
and in breach of the Queen's regulations''. The Ministry of Defence
will strongly oppose the application.
The family is angry at a claim made by the British Armed Forces
Minister Doug Henderson who told the McBride family during a recent
meeting that there were justifiable ``exceptional circumstances'' in
allowing the guardsmen to stay in the army.
Under Queen's Regulations members of the British army convicted of
murder or other custodial offences must be dismissed unless it is
found there are ``exceptional circumstances''. The McBride family has
argued that the MOD use this clause as an ``excuse for every murder
carried out by the state since the troubles began''.
Jean McBride, Peter's mother, said, ``all we want is justice. After
all the Army Board insulted not just my family but the judges who
found there were no `exceptional circumstances' when they found
Wright and Fisher guilty of murder''.
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