Sister of NI teen says by-election was success

The sister of a Belfast teenager who was shot dead by two British soldiers today said her by-election campaign had been a step towards justice.

Ms Kelly McBride won 189 votes in the Brent East poll in north London. She stood as an independent candidate to publicise her family's campaign to get Scots guardsmen Mark Wright and John Fisher, who shot her brother Peter (18) in the back in Belfast in 1992, dismissed from the British Army.

All we want is justice, I don't know why that seems so wrong to other people. Ms Kelly McBride, the sister of a Belfast teenager who was shot dead by two British soldiers

After the vote, which was won by Liberal Democrat candidate Sarah Teather with a massive swing from Labour, Ms McBride said: "All we want is justice, I don't know why that seems so wrong to other people.

"Any decisions on behalf of my brother's case were all made here [London]. I decided to bring our campaign here and now a lot of people know about my brother's case. Sarah says that she will bring it up in Parliament.

"I got 189 votes and that is 189 more people who know about my brother's case and I beat eight other people."

Ms McBride said that she did not expect to win but this had been an opportunity for Brent East's Irish community and anyone who was interested in human rights to show their support.

Wright and Fisher were jailed for life in 1995 for shooting McBride. They had stopped and searched the youngster near his home in north Belfast. They were released from prison in 1998 under the terms of the Belfast Agreement and were allowed to rejoin the army.

In June the Court of Appeal in Belfast ruled that Fisher and Wright should not have been allowed back into the Army.

But the Ministry of Defence last month rejected demands that they be kicked out. They are with the 1st Battalion Irish Guards based in Germany.