Blair urged to help get murder case soldiers out of army

Prime Minister Tony Blair was tonight urged to step in and have two soldiers who murdered a Belfast teenager thrown out of the Army.

Mark Durkan, leader of the moderate nationalist SDLP party, has written to Downing Street in a bid to secure ‘‘justice’’ for the family of Peter McBride.

Scots Guardsmen Mark Wright and James Fisher were sentenced to life in prison for killing the 18-year-old in 1992 but later released and allowed to resume their military careers.

But backing the McBride family’s ongoing fight, Mr Durkan, Deputy First Minister in the Northern Ireland power-sharing government, claimed the decision was outrageous.

‘‘I have written to Tony Blair raising the injustice done to the McBrides,’’ he said.

‘‘It is astonishing that the British Army would want to have convicted murderers and liars in its ranks.

‘‘I have asked the Prime Minister what message this sends out about the value that the British Government places on civilian life in Northern Ireland.’’

The Foyle MLA’s move came as the McBride family prepared to place advertisements in tomorrow’s newspapers in the latest stage of their campaign.

Peter McBride was shot in the back by Wright and Fisher as he ran away from an Army checkpoint close to his New Lodge home in a nationalist part of north Belfast.

In court the soldiers claimed the father of two had been carrying a coffee jar bomb.

But the judge found they had lied and convicted them of murder.

The pair were given early release from prison in September 1998, however, and two months later an Army Board decided they could continue in the services.

Two judicial review applications by the McBride family to have the decision reversed - the latest last month - have been dismissed.

But Mr Durkan insisted: ‘‘Murder is murder.

‘‘It doesn’t matter who carried it out, it should be treated equally seriously.

‘‘The handling of the McBride case calls this into question and offends against basic standards of justice and human rights.’’