THE British army is facing a second legal challenge over its decision to retain the two soldiers convicted of murdering Belfast man Peter McBride. His mother, Jean McBride, is applying for a judicial review of the decision not to discharge Scots Guardsmen James Fisher and Mark Wright. Last year Belfast judge Mr Justice Brian Kerr upheld a similar application by Mrs McBride when he quashed an earlier decision by the army board to allow the soldiers to stay on in the ranks. But that ruling was overturned last month and the ministry of defence announced the soldiers were being kept on. Before this latest judicial review can proceed in the high court in Belfast, a judge has to grant leave and it is expected that a decision will be made next week. The two soldiers were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Mr McBride (19) who was unarmed when he was shot in the back near his home in the New Lodge area in 1992. They were freed after serving only six years and rejoined their regiment. Mrs McBride’s solicitors, Madden and Finucane, are seeking a declaration that the MoD’s decision was in breach of Queen’s Regulations which state it is mandatory to discharge soldiers imprisoned by a civil court unless there are exceptional reasons. “No exceptional reasons exist justifying departure from the mandatory regulation,” the solicitors claimed in papers lodged at court. The papers go on to attack the MoD and army board by stating: “Their lack of censure not only enhances the risk that the guardsmen will murder again, but they also afford them the opportunity to do so by providing them with weapons.” The papers stated that, in the past 10 years, 2,002 soldiers have been discharged under Queen’s Regulations – the vast majority, if not all, for lesser offences than murder.