Protests held over McBride killing

Three protests have been held across the UK today to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of an 18-year-old Catholic father of two, Peter McBride, who was shot dead by the British Army in west Belfast.

The vigil in Belfast was held at the City Hall between 1 and 2pm, and protests in London were held from 1pm to 4pm. In Sheffield supporters picketed the local Armed Forces Recruitment Office at Church St from 12.30-2pm.

Commenting on the anniversary, Peter's mother Jean McBride said: "This government is hoping we will go away. It is an ongoing insult to the memory of my son to allow the two men convicted of his murder to remain in the British Army. This campaign will go on each and every day that they remain serving soldiers."

Peter McBride was stopped and searched by members of a patrol of Scots Guards on September 4 1992 in the New Lodge area of Belfast. After he was searched, he ran away from the patrol and was chased by Guardsmen Mark Wright and Jim Fisher. They fired a number of shots at McBride, hitting him twice in the back and he died shortly afterwards.

At their trial in 1995, Guardsmen Fisher and Wright claimed that they believed that McBride was going to throw a coffee jar at them, but the court found that the two were guilty of murder.

In September 1998, whilst prisoner releases were being arranged under the Good Friday Agreement, the Guardsmen were given early release and two months later an Army Board, chaired by the Armed Forces Minister, decided that they should be allowed to continue their careers in the services.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan, who wrote to the Prime Minister in June highlighting "the injustice done to the McBride family", said: "The British government’s treatment of the McBride family makes a mockery of basic standards of justice and human rights."

He called then on Tony Blair to meet with the McBride family "to put right the wrong done to them".

The Alliance Party's Seamus Close said: "The Prime Minister has failed to act in a manner consistent with the court judgment, and his failure to meet with the family demonstrates his hypocrisy and embarrassment over the affair."

On April 17 this year judgment on the second judicial review delivered by Justice Kerr in Belfast High Court upheld the Army Board decision. Solicitors for the family filed an appeal which is due to be heard in the autumn of 2002.

The two Guardsmen are currently based at the Oxford Barracks in Munster, Germany.

(GMcG)