TWO Scots Guards jailed for life two years ago for murdering a Belfast man should be granted early release, the High Court in Belfast heard yesterday. The two soldiers, James Fisher (27), from Belmont, Ayr, and Mark Wright (22), from Arbroath, Tayside, were convicted of murdering Peter McBride (18), who was shot in the back as he ran away from an army patrol in the New Lodge area in 1992.
The soldiers' hopes of an early release followed yesterday's admission that the Northern Ireland Office had been involved in the early release of another soldier, Private Ian Thain, who was convicted of murdering a civilian while on duty in Belfast. Thain was released after serving 3 1/2 years of a life sentence.
Fisher and Wright have applied for a judicial review of the NIO's decision not to refer their case to the Life Sentence Review Board until 1998. They claimed they were being treated less fairly than Thain and Paratrooper Lee Clegg, who was freed after just over three years for murdering a Belfast teenager in a stolen car.
The application was opposed by the NIO whose lawyer said the six year review was based on an analysis of a range of life sentences.
The hearing was adjourned until today.