Two Scottish soldiers sentenced to life imprisonment in 1994 for murdering a Belfast teenager should be released immediately, their lawyer pleaded in the Northern Ireland High Court yesterday.
Mr Peter Smith QC said James Fisher and Mark Wright had a legitimate expectation that, in line with government policy, they would be released after about three to 3 1/2 years in prison.
Fisher (27), from Glendale Place, Belmont, Ayr, and Wright (22), from Glebe Road, Arbroath, Tayside, were convicted of murdering Peter McBride (18) in the New Lodge area of Belfast in 1992.
The two Scots Guards are seeking a judicial review of a decision by the Northern Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, not to refer their case to the Life Sentence Review Board until "late 1998".
The hearing, before Mr Justice Girvan, continues.
