Bell urges release of jailed soldiers

Independent MP Mr Martin Bell yesterday threw his weight behind a parliamentary campaign to secure the early release of two Scots…

Independent MP Mr Martin Bell yesterday threw his weight behind a parliamentary campaign to secure the early release of two Scots Guards sentenced to life imprisonment in 1995 for the murder of a Catholic teenager, Mr Peter McBride, in Belfast in 1992.

Mr Bell's intervention drew a furious response from Mr McBride's mother, Mrs Jean McBride, to whom he had written advising of his move.

Mr McBride was shot dead as he fled a Scots Guard patrol near his home in the New Lodge area of Belfast.

The two guardsmen, James Fisher and Mark Wright, who were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1995 after spending three years in custody, have been told that their case would not come up for further review until next October.

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Mr Bell, the ex-BBC reporter, told a Westminster press conference: "These men have served long enough for this offence."

Mrs McBride said she was hurt, upset and bewildered by Mr Bell's endorsement of the campaign for early release.