A mother's right to challenge a British army decision to retain the two soldiers who murdered her son was questioned in the High Court in Belfast yesterday.
Mr Ian Burnett QC, for the British Ministry of Defence, submitted that Mrs Jean McBride had not sufficient interest to mount a legal case against the retention of Mr James Fisher and Mr Mark Wright in the Scots Guards.
The pair were freed on licence last year after serving six years of a life sentence for murdering Peter McBride (19) in 1992.
The hearing continues today of Mrs McBride's application for a judicial review of the decision by the Ministry of Defence and the Army Board to take the soldiers back into the army.
Mr Burnett said Mrs McBride could be considered a complainant in the criminal case which led to the soldiers being convicted of murdering her son.
"But here she is a long way removed from the decision by the Army Board," he said.
Mr Burnett also argued that the decision was not susceptible to judicial review because it was a private law matter, not one of public law.
But Mr Michael Lavery QC, for Mrs McBride, said it could not now be said that the manner in which the State ran its security affairs was a private law matter.
He said the decision to retain the two soldiers had given the green light to other soldiers to commit murder.
Mr Lavery said there were no circumstances in which an individual convicted of murder should be either admitted to, or retained in, the security forces.
He said: "In England, police officers who ill-treat their dogs are regarded as unsuitable for service but someone who murders an innocent person in Northern Ireland is regarded as suitable."
The hearing continues today.