At 10.00am this morning in the High Court in Belfast, Justice Kerr ruled against the family of murdered Belfast teenager Peter McBride. The family were challenging the decision of a British Army Board to allow the two Scots Guards convicted of his murder, Mark Wright and James Fisher, to remain in the armed forces. This morning's ruling, which Jean McBride has described as "bizarre and unbelievable" comes despite an earlier ruling by the same judge that the Army Board must reconsider its decision to continue to employ the two convicted murderers. This ruling was ignored by a subsequent meeting of the army board.
Despite this morning's setback, the McBride family and campaigners on their behalf have vowed to continue their campaign. An appeal will be launched in due course.
A spokesperson for the Pat Finucane Centre has called for support for another worldwide day of action on September 4th this year, to mark the 10th anniversary of Peter's murder. Paul O'Connor of the Pat Finucane Centre said:
"We will be calling on all of those worldwide who have supported previous days of action and who have been successful in highlighting the obvious injustice of this case in Australia, Germany, the United States, England and in many other countries to support the next day of action on September 4th. We are confident that those who have supported us in the past will do so again, and we will be asking them to focus their attention on the symbols of British representation in their countries by peacefully disrupting the running of British Consulates and Embassies on September 4th."Peter's family have been fighting for justice for almost ten years now, against the British army, their political supporters, who have included the current Secretary of State John Reid, and sections of the British media. Despite this latest setback the fight will go on, and neither the McBride family nor their supporters will give up until the British Army are forced to reverse their decison to reward two convicted murderers by handing them back their guns and allowing them to remain in the British army."
Brief introduction to the case of Peter Mc Bride September 1992-April 2002
September 4 1992. Peter Mc Bride, 18 year-old father of two young daughters, is stopped and searched, then shot dead minutes later by members of a patrol of Scots Guards in the New Lodge area of Belfast.
Two soldiers are taken to Girdwood Army Barracks, where the RUC are denied access to the men for at least 10 hours. The next day Guardsmen Wright and Fisher are charged with murder.
February 10 1995 The two are convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
March 1996 Leave to appeal to the House of Lords was denied.
Feb 10 1997 A high profile campaign to release the two begins, spearheaded by the right wing press. The Daily Mail in particular publishes a series of inaccurate, deliberately misleading and racist articles about the case.
May 13 1998. Dr John Reid, then Minister of State for the Armed Forces, expresses his "concern" over the Guardsmen’s continued imprisonment after meeting those campaigning on their behalf. Dr Reid refused numerous requests for a meeting with the Mc Bride family and justified the use of MoD property by those campaigning on behalf of convicted murderers.
July 1998. Secretary of State Dr Mo Mowlam promised the McBride family at a meeting that the two would not be among the first wave of prisoners released under the new legislation. Dr Mowlam was specifically advised at the meeting that early September was both the anniversary of Peter’s birthday and of his murder and was therefore a sensitive time for the family.
September 2 1998. The soldiers were released from Maghaberry Prison, Co Antrim, 2 days before the sixth anniversary of Peter’s murder, and in advance of other prisoner releases.
November 3 1998. The Army Board decides that Wright and Fisher may continue their careers in the services under an ‘exceptional circumstances’ clause.
December 1998 The Mc Bride family, accompanied by legal representatives and a member of the Pat Finucane Centre, met with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern TD who promised his full support for their campaign.
January 26 1999 The McBride family and a Pat Finucane Centre representative met Doug Henderson, Armed Forces Minister and member of the Army Board. After a heated exchange Mrs Mc Bride walks out of the meeting.
June 1999 Mrs Mc Bride applies to the Northern Ireland High Court for leave to challenge the Army Board’s decision by way of judicial review.
Sept 6, 1999 Justice Kerr gave judgement that a new Army Board must reconsider the future of the guardsmen. The original Army Board decision which held that the two had committed ‘an error of judgement’ was rejected by the court.
April 10 2000 Members of the Mc Bride family hand in a letter to 10 Downing St. Later a Downing St spokesperson admits that no reply was sent to the Mc Bride family because the letter had been ‘lost’.
September 2000 The Mc Bride family hand in an A1 sized letter to 10 Downing St to replace the ‘lost’ letter.
November 24 2000 A new Army Board again decides to allow the two guardsmen to remain in the Army. The members of the Army Board who made the decision were John Spellar MP, Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Major General Judd, Quartermaster General and General Sir Mike Jackson, Commander in Chief Land Command. The latter served as a member of the Parachute Regiment in Derry on Bloody Sunday as Adjutant and temporary Press Officer to Colonel Derek Wilford. The decision is condemned by the Independent Assessor on Military Complaints, the Catholic Primate, the Presbyterian Moderator and others.
December 1 2000 International Day of Action with pickets and protests worldwide.
December 13 2000 A motion condemning the Army Board’s decision is passed unanimously in Dail Eireann, the Irish parliament.
December 24 2000 The News of the World prints an apology to Jean McBride after an earlier article which totally misrepresented the facts surrounding the murder of her son and her campaign for justice.
January 4 2001 The German Government expresses concern following confirmation that the two convicted murderers are based in Germany. German Government officials maintain contact with the Irish Embassy regarding the case.
February 5 2001 The second judicial review is adjourned after the MoD neglected to lodge the appropriate papers in time.
March 29 2001 The judicial review begins in the High Court in Belfast.
May 24 2001 International Day of Action, with events in the USA, Australia, England and Germany.
June 25 2001 Belfast’s High Court hears final submissions in the second judicial review. It emerges in court that British Army authorities had withheld from the Army Board written submissions filed by Madden & Finucane solicitors. Legal counsel for the MoD also admitted that the two soldiers had shown no remorse and continued to deny their culpability. The MoD argued that a six year sentence was a ‘powerful deterrent’ for the crime of murder…
April 17 2002 Justice Kerr ruled against the judicial review taken by the McBride family in Belfast High Court.