The mother of a young Catholic man shot dead by British soldiers called on the British army yesterday to get rid of them after judges ruled in her favour.
In the Court of Appeal in Belfast three judges decided by 2-1 that the army was wrong not to throw out two soldiers convicted of murdering Peter McBride (18) in 1992.
But Lords Justice Nicholson and McCollum stopped short of ordering the army to dismiss Scots Guards Mark Wright and James Fisher.
Instead they made a legal declaration that the reasons adopted by the Army Board were not so exceptional as to permit the retention of the two soldiers.
A dissenting judgment was delivered by the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Robert Carswell, who held that the Army Board was entitled in law to reach the conclusion it did.
The three judges delivered separate reserved judgments on the appeal by Mrs Jean McBride against Mr Justice Kerr's dismissal of her application for judicial review seeking the expulsion of Guardsmen Wright and Fisher.
The two soldiers were convicted of murdering Peter McBride near his home in the New Lodge area of Belfast.
They were sentenced to life imprisonment, but were released after three years and rejoined their regiment.
In a summary of the three judgments the Lord Chief Justice said the issue of the appeal was whether the decision of the Army Board was a valid application of Queen's Regulations, one of which provided that a soldier was to be discharged if he had been sentenced to imprisonment.
But there was a proviso that he could be retained if the army decided there were exceptional circumstances.
An Army Board duly reached that decision in November 2000, and Mr Justice Kerr affirmed it.
But yesterday's majority ruling meant that the decision to retain the soldiers was not a lawful application of Queen's Regulations.
Lords Justice Nicholson and McCollum decided not to set aside the army's decision or make an order instructing the Army Board to reach a different conclusion.
They refrained as this could involve usurping the function of army command, and to set aside the decision would lead to a further hearing and postponing yet again the conclusion of the matter.
Sir Robert said: "In consequence no legal compulsion is imposed on the army authorities to take any futher action in relation to the retention or discharge of the soldiers. It can take such course as it thinks fit, having regard to the opinions expressed by the court concerning the conclusions reached by the army board."
Outside the court Mrs Jean McBride said she was "absolutely delighted". "Two senior judges have said more or less that it is illegal for these soldiers to still be in the army," she said.
"Now I am calling on governments everywhere, the British Ministry of Defence and everyone else to insist that these men be removed from the army right away.
"I believe today's decision is more than a broad hint to the army to take such action."