A British government-appointed independent assessor of military complaints procedures in the North has said he was "dismayed" by the decision of the British army to reinstate two Scottish soldiers convicted of murdering a Belfast teenager.
In his annual report Mr Jim McDonald said the army was expected to support the RUC in maintaining public confidence in the rule of law. The decision of an army board to reinstate Guardsmen Fisher and Wright "does in my view fly in the face of that strategic goal".
The soldiers were convicted of murder in 1995 after they shot Mr Peter MacBride, an unarmed 18-year-old father, in the back in 1992. They were released on licence in 1998 and returned to their regiment, but a final decision to let them stay in the army was not made until last December.
Mr McDonald said: "My reaction when the announcement was made in December 2000 was one of dismay. Having read the [board] papers I still feel dismayed".
The army board had found there were "exceptional circumstances" in the case, but Mr McDonald said he could see no evidence of such circumstances and found the reasoning and result of the board's review impossible to follow. He said it illustrated the need for an independent appeals panel in such cases.