TWO Scots Guards given life sentences for murdering an unarmed Belfast teenager, Mr Peter McBride, do not deserve early release, the former secretary of state has told the High Court in Belfast.
Lord Mayhew said in an affidavit that James Fisher (27) and Mark Wright (22) ought to serve a "significantly longer term of imprisonment" than two other British soldiers who murdered while on duty.
The former Sir Patrick Mayhew was not in court. His opinion was in the affidavit he swore in support of his decision not to refer the Fisher and Wright cases to the Life Sentence Review Board until October.
The two soldiers were not in court either. They are serving their sentences in Maghaberry Prison, near Lisburn, Co Antrim.
At a judicial review hearing, their lawyers applied for court orders to compel the new Secretary of State, Dr Mo Mowlam, to release them now on licence pending a referral to the Review Board.
The release application is based on the argument that Fisher and Wright have been treated less favourably than Paratrooper Lee Clegg and Private Ian Thain, who were released after three years.
Fisher, from Ayr, and Wright from Arbroath, were convicted of murdering Mr McBride (18) near his home in the New Lodge area of Belfast in September 1992.
He was shot in the back as he ran away from an army patrol. The two soldiers admitted shooting him but claimed they fired in self-defence as they thought he was carrying a "coffee-jar" bomb.
Lord Mayhew's affidavit said he considered Fisher and Wright were more blameworthy than either Clegg or Thain.
Judgment was reserved by Mr Justice Girvan, who said he would give his decision before the end of the court term on June 30th.