Ulster Secretary Paul Murphy is to meet the mother of a Belfast teenager shot dead by soldiers, it was confirmed today.
The meeting follows his decision to appoint the former Defence Minister who decided the soldiers should stay in the army despite being convicted of murder, as his human rights minister.
Mrs Jean McBride was outraged when she learned new Northern Ireland Office minister Mr John Spellar was to be responsible for human rights as well as criminal justice and equality.
As former armed forces minister in 2000 Mr Speller was involved in the decision to allow Scots Guards Mark Wright and James Fisher to remain in the army when they were released from jail three years after being sentenced to life for murder.
Mr Peter McBride had been unarmed when he was shot dead by the soldiers in north Belfast after he ran away after being stopped by a military patrol.
The McBride family have made numerous legal challenges to the decision of the Ministry of Defence to allow the soldiers to resume duties.
The MoD has said there had been "exceptional circumstances" surrounding the shooting, but last Friday the Belfast Court of Appeal ruled that there were no exceptional circumstances for allowing the soldiers to remain in the army.
The ruling came just hours before Mr Speller was appointed by Prime Minister Tony Blair to the Northern Ireland ministerial team in his reshuffle.
Yesterday Mrs McBride asked for a meeting with Mr Spellar after he was given his human rights portfolio by Secretary of State Paul Murphy.
She said the appointment was putting her family through further suffering.
"I find it hard to see how people are supposed to take John Spellar seriously as a human rights minister when he was part of a process which chose to ignore my family's human rights," she said.
Today Mr Spellar confirmed he had been involved in the decision to retain the soldiers in the army, but said he would not be meeting Mrs McBride.
Questioned during his first Belfast press conference he said: "I understand that the Secretary of State and the minister responsible for victims [Angela Smith] will be meeting with Mrs McBride.
"I think the problem is that with the possibility of further legal action, it would not be possible for me to do so."
He declined to comment on the recent court ruling, saying it was "now a matter for the Ministry of Defence."
PA