Army must sack murderers

In 1998, Scots Guardsmen Mark Wright and James Fisher were freed after 
serving three years of a life sentence for the 1992 murder of 18-year-old 
Belfast man Peter McBride. A British army review board then re-instated the 
two convicted murderers to resume their careers.

Despite the grounds on which this decision was reached being ruled unlawful 
by the Northern Ireland High Court, today these convicted murderers remain 
in the army.

Peter's mother Jean Mcbride headed a delegation to Downing Street on 
September 6 to urge the Prime Minister to order the army to discharge the 
killers of her son. September 6 is the first anniversary of a Belfast Court 
decision that the Ministry of Defence must reconsider the case.

The delegation handed in a letter, demanding to know why the two convicted 
murderers have been allowed to remain British soldiers.

The letter was printed specially on a large card. This is because a Downing 
Street spokesperson recently confirmed that a letter handed in by the 
McBride family in April of this year had been "lost". The delegation felt 
the larger letter was less likely to be lost.

Jean McBride said: "Over the years our campaign has received messages of 
support from throughout the world..." (See last week's Guardian for 
details of protest action in Sydney.) 

"By going to London I want to take a simple message to Tony Blair.

"This has gone on long enough. If the British Government has any self 
respect they will not allow convicted murderers to stay in their army."

"It's unbelievable that the army is allowing these convicted killers to 
remain in its ranks. Wright and Fisher have never shown the slightest 
remorse for their crime", said Labor MP Jeremy Corbyn, a member of the 
delegation to Downing St.

"It cannot be right for the British armed forces to offer a haven for 
convicted murderers when no other public service would even contemplate 
their continuing employment.

"The overwhelming public interest demands that Wright and Fisher are 
discharged from the British army", said Mr Corbyn.

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Acknowledgements: New Worker