Brief introduction to the case of Peter Mc Bride September 1992-October 2000
September
4 1992. Peter Mc Bride, 18 year-old father of two young daughters, was stopped
by a foot patrol of the Scots Guards in Spamount St, off the New Lodge Rd in
Belfast. After an identity check and a thorough body search, which found him to
be unarmed, Peter ran from the patrol and was chased by the soldiers. During the
chase the soldier in charge ordered his men " don't shoot". Seconds
later a witness heard the words "shoot the bastard ". Two soldiers,
Guardsmen Mark Wright and Jim Fisher, shot at him, hitting him twice in the back
from a range of some 70 yards. Peter, seriously wounded, stumbled through a
house before collapsing in the back entry behind his sister's house.
The Aftermath
The two soldiers were taken to Girdwood Army Barracks and the RUC were denied
access to the men for at least 10 hours. A protest march was held calling for
the withdrawal of the British Army from the area.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs in Dublin, David Andrews, called for an
immediate independent investigation. An Editorial in the Irish Times (5.9.1992)
said "there is little doubt that he posed no threat to the soldiers who
shot him" while an Irish News editorial on the same day, commenting on a
possible official investigation said, " One can already visualise the
buckets of whitewash being flown in to deal with the present incident". The
day after the killing Guardsmen Wright and Fisher were charged with murder.
Spring of 1994 The trial began at Belfast crown court before Lord Chief Justice
Kelly. Fisher claimed that he opened fire because he believed that Peter Mc
Bride was leading the patrol into a trap and would throw a coffee jar bomb at
them. Wright, who was yards away from his fellow guardsman when he opened fire,
alleged that he believed the dead man had opened fire on them.
February, 10, 1995 the two were convicted of murder and sentenced to life
imprisonment. The judge stated "I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that
there is no reasonable possibility that Guardsman Fisher held or may have held
an honest belief that the deceased carried or may have carried a coffee jar
bomb". In relation to Wright the judge made it clear that "this is not
a panic situation which required split second action or indeed any action at
all".
March 1996 Leave to appeal to the House of Lords was denied . Though all legal
avenues had now been exhausted the family warned of a "Clegg-style"
campaign to free the two.
Feb 10 1997 Prominent former Scots Guards officers and members of the
establishment announced their support of a high profile campaign, spearheaded by
the Daily Mail, to release the two, citing "tragic error of judgement".
The campaign prompted two unsuccessful complaints to the Press Council regarding
the misleading and inaccurate nature of some of the press coverage, in
particular in the Daily Mail.
May 13 1998. Dr John Reid, the new Minister of State for the Armed Forces,
expressed 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.
July 1998. Secretary of State Dr Mo Mowlam, in a meeting with the McBride family
and the Pat Finucane Centre, promised that the two would not be among the first
wave of prisoners released under the new legislation.
September 2 1998. The soldiers were released from Maghaberry Prison, Co Antrim.
They were flown to Catterick barracks in Yorkshire to meet their Commanding
Officer. The McBride family expressed their outrage at the timing of the
release, the week of the anniversary of Peter's murder
November 3 1998. The Army Board decided that Guardsmen Wright and Fisher may
continue their careers in the services under an 'exceptional circumstances'
clause. According to the Army Board the Guardsmen had committed an 'error of
judgement'. Dr Mowlam expressed her view that the two should be dismissed from
the British Army.
December 23 1998 At a meeting between the Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, the Mc
Bride family, campaigners and legal representatives, the Prime Minister promised
to bring pressure on the British Government to reverse the Army Board decision.
January 26 1999 The McBride family and a Pat Finucane Centre representative met
Doug Henderson, Armed Forces Minister and member of the Army Board, and urged a
dishonourable discharge in light of the fact that the two are still convicted
murderers. Following a heated exchange Mrs Mc Bride walked out of the meeting.
June 1999 Following this meeting Mrs Mc Bride applied to the Northern Ireland
High Court for leave to challenge the Army Board's decision by way of judicial
review. Judge Kerr granted leave for a judicial review.
Sept 6 1999 Justice Kerr gave judgement that a new Army Board must be
constituted to reconsider the future of the guardsmen because the basis of its
original finding, that there had been an 'error of judgement', contradicted
Justice Kelly's original judgement.
Meanwhile, as the Mc Bride family awaited a new Army Board hearing, the two
convicted murderers were sent to Kosovo as peacekeepers.they have since
returned. Other members of the Armed Forces found guilty of football related
hooliganism and possession of illegal drugs have been dismissed.
April 2000 A new Army Board is set to reconsider the case. As a result, members
of the Mc Bride family and campaigners hand in a letter to Prime Minister Blair
at 10 Downing St on Monday April 10. In July a Downing St spokesperson admits
that no reply was sent to the Mc Bride family because the letter had been
'lost'.
September 2000 In early September supporters of the Mc Bride family held
protests and vigils in Derry, Belfast, New York and in Sydney where the British
Consulate was closed as a result of a picket. The issue was also raised at the
European Parliament by Irish MEP Patricia Mc Kenna. In London Jean Mc Bride,
mother of the victim, handed in a letter at Downing St following news that an
earlier letter to number 10 had been 'lost'.
October 2000 Conservative member of the Scottish Parliament Ben Wallace, calls
for the dismissal from the British Army of a member of the Royal Highland
Fusiliers who was videoed dancing and singing on the empty grave of a dead
Kosovar. Wallace, a former member of the Scots Guards, has been to the fore
supporting the two men convicted of the murder of Peter Mc Bride. In the world
according to Wallace a Scottish soldier who dances and sings on a gravesite
should be dismissed while two soldiers who put an innocent youth in a grave
should be retained in the army.
December 1 2000 As the Ministry of Defence continues to effectively ignore the
September 1999 court ruling a further Day of Protest is planned.