Two British soldiers, imprisoned for the murder of an unarmed teenager in the North, will be able to stay in the army. A British Army board ruled today that Scots guardsmen James Fisher and Mark Wright can keep their jobs. Peter McBride's mother, Jean, said that she was devastated by the decision.
Guardsmen Fisher and Wright spent six years in jail for shooting Peter McBride in the back as he fled a checkpoint in 1992. The soldiers later claimed they thought he had been carrying a bomb. But a High Court judge in Belfast concluded that the men had opened fire knowing they had no justification for doing so. An initial decision to allow them to remain in the army was quashed by the courts after Peter McBride's mother Jean brought a judicial review.
Then the case was looked at again by a British army board. The board's decision, announced this morning, is that the two soldiers can keep their jobs. Britain's Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon said that the decision had been reached after "a very thorough reconsideration of the case" but Peter McBride's mother Jean says she is devastated and that she will fight on until the two guardsmen are kicked out of the army.
