Hi °C | Lo °C The mother of a north Belfast teenager shot dead by Scots Guards 16 years ago has hit out after one of Iraq's biggest defence contractors claimed the troops were "wrongly convicted" of murder.
Aegis Specialist Risk Management - run by the soldiers' former CO, Tim Spicer - posted the claim on its website earlier this month.
The former colonel was the commander of the Scots Guards in 1992 when two of his soldiers shot 18-year-old Peter McBride.
Their patrol stopped and searched the teenager, which a judge said showed they knew he was unarmed. He then ran away, possibly because he was wanted for petty crime.
Two soldiers - James Fisher and Mark Wright - shot him in the back.
They were later convicted of his murder and jailed for life - although they were released from prison in 1998 and reinstated in the Army.
Peter McBride's mother, Jean, was angered by the internet post.
"Where does he come from saying they were convicted wrongly?
"Fisher and Wright never appealed their sentences - they never once appealed.
"Why didn't they fight to get their names cleared if they were innocent, " she said.
Aegis was asked for a comment on the website claims yesterday, but had not responded last night.
