|
|
|
CONVICTED
MURDERERS STILL IN THE BRITISH ARMY
In February 1995 the two soldiers were convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. They remained in the British Army even while in jail. In September 1998 they were released from prison under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. On 3rd November 1998 a British Army Board, including General Mike Jackson (of Bloody Sunday notoriety) and John Spellar (ex-British six county Minister responsible for human rights) decided they could continue to serve in the British Army under an “exceptional reasons” clause. This was justified by the British Army Board coming to the conclusion that the Scots Guardsmen had committed an “error of judgement”.
Other members of
Her Majesty’s Crown Forces found guilty of crimes such as football
related violence, public order offences, drug abuse and cheating on
television game shows have been dismissed from the British Army. Since
1995 (the year that Mark Wright and James Fisher were convicted of
the murder of Peter McBride) approximately 1,500 British Army soldiers
have been dismissed for failing random drug tests. It seems that Tony
Blair and the British Armed Forces don’t place the judicially
proven murder of a young Irish father of two on their list of ‘dismissible
offences’.
A full list of MP addresses can
be found at: Let the British Army know how you feel: The Army Personnel Centre The Army Recruiting Group
From the Pat Finucane Centre 23rd September 2003 The Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram, has admitted that Lance Corporal James Fisher, one of two Scots Guards convicted of the murder of Peter McBride, was promoted while an Army Board was still considering the fate of the guardsmen. The admission came in a letter to the Pat Finucane Centre received on the day of the Brent East By-election. A PFC spokesperson has described the news as “clear evidence that the MoD subverted a court ruling and improperly influenced the Army Board."
The spokesman continued “A Belfast court ordered the Ministry of Defence and then Armed Forces Minister John Spellar to reconsider the original decision to retain the two guardsmen. As a result a second Army Board was appointed chaired by Armed Forces Minister John Spellar. In October 2000, while the Board deliberated on the case, Fisher was promoted. A month later, in November 2000 it was announced that the second Army Board had again decided that Wright and Fisher could remain in the British Army. The final meeting of the Board was held on 8th November, several weeks after the promotion. This promotion was clearly an attempt to subvert a court ruling that had overturned the original Army Board decision in favour of the guardsmen. It is also clear that the MoD, while John Spellar was Armed Forces Minister, withheld the fact of this promotion and more importantly the timing, from the legal team representing Jean McBride and sought to exert improper influence on the Army Board." Jean McBride commented, “John Spellar was the Armed Forces Minister when an employee convicted of murder was promoted and while a court ordered tribunal, which he sat on, was reconsidering the decision to even employ that person. Where are the demands for an inquiry and resignations? Instead Spellar is appointed Minister for Human Rights. This totally vindicates the position taken by the Mayor of Belfast Martin Morgan who is boycotting Spellar’s office.”
Blair Stance
on McBride Army Killers 'evasive' Tony Blair has described the retention in the British army of the convicted murderers of a Belfast teenager as an “internal employment matter” in a letter to SDLP leader Mark Durkan. The prime minister was responding to criticism from Mr Durkan over the army's failure to discharge Scots Guardsmen James Fisher and Mark Wright while sacking an officer who cheated on a television gameshow. The soldiers were admitted back into the army after serving a jail sentence for the murder of 18-year-old Peter McBride in 1992. Mr Durkan contrasted this treatment to a decision to discharge Major Charles Ingram after he was found guilty of cheating on the ITV programme Who Wants to be a Millionaire. “The message sent is clear. Whereas the British army takes cheating on a gameshow seriously, the same is not true of murdering Northern Ireland civilians,” Mr Durkan said in a letter to Mr Blair. The SDLP leader further pointed to a ruling by the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal declaring that the army had been wrong to allow Wright and Fisher to remain as soldiers “because of the exceptional circumstances” surrounding Mr McBride's death. The appeal judges did not formally recommend the discharge of the officers. However, Mr Durkan criticised the failure of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to take any action following the judgment. “It is outrageous for a public authority to ignore a court declaration of illegality in this way,” he said. In response, in a letter seen by the Irish News, Mr Blair said the MoD and army authorities would “take into account the full implication of the judges' serious concerns in the handling of future retention cases”. He went on to say: “In your letter you also seek to draw a parallel between the army's handling of the Fisher and Wright case and the case of the major who was convicted of fraud following an appearance on a television gameshow. “Both cases were internal employment matters for the army and both were dealt with in accordance with the appropriate procedure, but the details, context and circumstances of each are not comparable.” Speaking after a meeting with the McBride family on Saturday, Mr Durkan accused the prime minister of being “evasive” over the issue. “Tony Blair argues that the cases are not comparable. That is true. Murder on the streets of Belfast is much worse. So why is cheating on a TV programme taken more seriously?” he said. “Nor is it tenable for Tony Blair to pretend that this is simply an internal employment matter. It is a matter of grave public concern and basic human rights.”
Developments in Peter Mc Bride case Fresh challenge
over soldiers The mother of a Belfast teenager murdered by two soldiers in 1992
has been given the go-ahead to press for a third legal bid to get
them thrown out of the Army. Her son Peter, 18, was shot dead after being stopped and searched by the soldiers while they were on patrol near his home in the New Lodge area of north Belfast on 4 September, 1992. Scots Guards Mark Wright and James Fisher were sentenced to life for murder in 1995, but three years later were released from prison and allowed to rejoin their regiment. The McBride family have been campaigning to have Fisher and Wright expelled from the Army. Last June, the Court of Appeal ruled that the Army was wrong not to discharge them. Mrs McBride's latest court bid is challenging the decision by the Armed Forces Minister not to review the soldiers' status in the light of the 2-1 majority decision in the appeal court. In his reserved decision on Friday, Mr Justice Reginald Weir said an arguable case had been made and therefore he was granting leave but added that he was not expressing any view about the ultimate outcome of the application. The hearing was adjourned
until 23 January.
Brief chronology In December
1998 an Army Board decided that Wright & Fisher could remain in
the Army due to "exceptional reasons".
McBride family lose legal bid over British army murderers The family of Peter McBride, who was gunned down at a British army checkpoint have lost their latest legal bid to have his convicted murderers thrown out of the British army. Belfast High Court today issued a 13-page ruling refusing an application for judicial review against the British Armed Forces Minister brought by Jean McBride, Peter's mother. In Belfast's New Lodge district on 4th September 1992 the British army stopped 18-year-old father of two Peter McBride. An identity check showed that he was not wanted and a body search found him unarmed. Peter McBride panicked and ran away from the British soldiers, who chased him, shot him in the back and killed him. In February 1995 Scots Guardsmen Mark Wright and James Fisher were convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Both men remained in the British army even while in jail convicted of murder. In September 1998 they were released from prison under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. On 3rd November 1998 a British Army Board, including General Mike Jackson (of Bloody Sunday notoriety) and John Spellar (ex-Northern Minister responsible for human rights) decided they could continue to serve in the army under an “exceptional reasons” clause. This was justified by the Army Board coming to the conclusion that the Scots Guardsmen had committed an “error of judgement”. Scots Guardsmen Mark Wright and James Fisher served just three years of their life sentences for the murder of an 18-year-old nationalist and were allowed to rejoin their regiment and remain in the British army. In September 2003, the British Armed Forces Minister admitted that Lance Corporal James Fisher was promoted while an Army Board was still considering the fate of the Guardsmen. Other members of Her Majesty’s Crown Forces found guilty of crimes such as football related violence, public order offences, drug abuse and cheating on television game shows have been dismissed from the British army. Since 1995 (the year that Mark Wright and James Fisher were convicted of the murder of Peter McBride) approximately 1,500 British army soldiers have been dismissed for failing random drug tests. The McBride family has mounted a tireless campaign to have the pair thrown out. Their case was aided by a Court of Appeal ruling that an Army Board which brought Wright and Fisher back in had not produced the exceptional circumstances needed to justify the soldiers' retention. In June 2003, Belfast High Court ruled that the British army had been wrong to allow the two men to rejoin their regiment, but stopped short of ordering the army to expel them. In June 2004 the man charged with investigating complaints against the British army said it had been wrong to allow them to remain as soldiers. Jim McDonald, Independent Assessor of Military Complaints Procedures, said the decision not to expel the convicted killers had dealt a major blow to the force’s reputation. But with no judicial order for the Ministry of Defence to act against them, the British government has resisted all demands for the authorities to intervene. The McBride family now plan to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights. Speaking from Belfast High Court today, Jean McBride said: "I don't think there is a judge in Northern Ireland with the bottle to stand up against the establishment, so it looks like we'll have to take our case to Europe."
Blair ‘sees no value’ in meeting McBrides British prime minister Tony Blair has refused to meet the family of murdered Belfast man Peter McBride. Last night Mr McBride’s sister Kelly said she was angry and disappointed at Mr Blair’s decision. The prime minister’s office wrote to the family saying Mr Blair could not see “any value” in a meeting. The McBrides wanted Mr Blair to support their call for the killers of Peter McBride, pictured, to be dismissed from the British army. The family have fought a lengthy legal campaign to have former Scots Guardsmen Mark Wright and James Fisher expelled from the army. Speaking last night, Kelly McBride called on the SDLP and Sinn Fein to use their influence to get the premier to resolve the issue once and for all. “The prime minister could end our agony with a strike of a pen and simply order the Ministry of Defence to dismiss the convicted murderers of my brother,” she said. “Whether a family gets a meeting with the Prime Minister appears to depend on who the killers were, not who was killed and he clearly doesn’t want to meet us.” A motion tabled in the House of Commons by SDLP leader Mark Durkan calling for an end to impunity in the armed forces has received almost 50 signatures from MPs across the political spectrum.
British army killer discharged after being shot while in Iraq A British soldier convicted of murdering a Belfast teenager has been discharged from the army after being shot in Iraq. However, the family of Peter McBride have been angered after claims that Scots Guard Mark Wright did not regret firing the fatal shots which killed him. In September 1992 Wright and James Fisher were sentenced to life in prison for shooting the 18-year-old in the back as he ran away from a foot patrol near his north Belfast home. The soldiers were found to have lied under oath after claiming they thought he had been carrying a bomb, despite having searched him minutes before he was shot. However, they were freed three years later and allowed to return to their regiment. It emerged they had received full army pay while in jail. The McBride family fought a 15-year legal battle to have the men dismissed from the army but at the weekend it was disclosed that Wright has now been discharged from after being shot in Iraq. His wife Louise told a Scottish newspaper that he had been shot in the hand during a ‘friendly fire’ incident in Basra in April 2003. “Mark wanted to stay in the army but the physician said he would never be able to turn his wrist properly to enable him to shoot a weapon again,’’ she said. “He was devastated. The army was all he had known. He found it really hard to get a job. Not only did he have a terrible injury but he was on life licence after being released so he has a permanent criminal record.” However, Mrs Wright claimed her husband did not regret firing the fatal shots that killed Peter McBride. “Mark regrets what happened in Ireland but he does not regret his army life. All he ever wanted to do was serve his country,” she said. “What happened in Ireland will affect Mark for the rest of his life. “Mark says even if he had been more experienced he would have made the same decision.” Mr McBride’s mother Jean hit out at the claims. “At their trial Wright and Fisher claimed they only shot Peter because they were inexperienced,” she said. “Now 16 years later he is saying he would do the same again. “The British army and their political establishment will never admit that shooting an unarmed civilian in the back was murder. It’s another insult to my son’s memory.”
|
