Madden & Finucane
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Madden & Finucane
present
the Madden & Finucane
and Pat Finucane
Aisling Awards
The Aisling Bursaries, launched in March 2000, are
an educational initiative between Belfast Media Group and West Belfast
Partnership. The Aisling Bursaries are designed to help students defray their
education and training costs.
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Army to face new McBride challenge
09 December 2000 --
THE British army is facing a second legal challenge over its decision to retain
the two soldiers convicted of murdering Belfast man Peter McBride. His mother,
Jean McBride, is applying for a judicial review of the decision not to discharge
Scots Guardsmen James Fisher and Mark Wright. Last year Belfast judge Mr Justice
Brian Kerr upheld a similar application by Mrs McBride when he quashed an
earlier decision by the army board to allow the soldiers to stay on in the
ranks. But that ruling was overturned last month and the ministry of defence
announced the soldiers were being kept on. Before this latest judicial review
can proceed in the high court in Belfast, a judge has to grant leave and it is
expected that a decision will be made next week. The two soldiers were sentenced
to life imprisonment for the murder of Mr McBride (19) who was unarmed when he
was shot in the back near his home in the New Lodge area in 1992. They were
freed after serving only six years and rejoined their regiment. Mrs McBride’s
solicitors, Madden and Finucane, are seeking a declaration that the MoD’s
decision was in breach of Queen’s Regulations which state it is mandatory to
discharge soldiers imprisoned by a civil court unless there are exceptional
reasons. “No exceptional reasons exist justifying departure from the mandatory
regulation,” the solicitors claimed in papers lodged at court. The papers go on
to attack the MoD and army board by stating: “Their lack of censure not only
enhances the risk that the guardsmen will murder again, but they also afford
them the opportunity to do so by providing them with weapons.” The papers stated
that, in the past 10 years, 2,002 soldiers have been discharged under Queen’s
Regulations - the vast majority, if not all, for lesser offences than murder.
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