Editing Tim Spicer (section)

==Early life and military career==
Born in 1952 in [[Aldershot]], [[England]], Spicer was educated at [[Sherborne School]] and followed his father into the [[British Army]], attending [[Royal Military Academy Sandhurst|Sandhurst]] and then was commissioned in the [[Scots Guards]]. He tried to join the [[Special Air Service]] (SAS), but failed the selection course.<ref name="vanityfair"/> In 1982, his regiment was pulled from guard duty at the [[Tower of London]] and sent to the [[Falklands War]], where he saw action at the [[Battle of Mount Tumbledown]] on 13 June.{{fact|date=September 2022}}

After the Falklands War, Spicer, then at the rank of [[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|lieutenant colonel]], was sent to [[Northern Ireland]] along with his regiment as part of [[Operation Banner]] during [[the Troubles]].<ref>''An Unorthodox Soldier'', by Tim Spicer, Mainstream Publishing, 1999, pp. 121-125.<!-- isbn needed --></ref> In 1992, Spicer was awarded the [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] "for operational service in Northern Ireland".<ref name="Aegis">{{cite web |url=http://www.aegisworld.com/index.php/tim-spicer |title=AEGIS - Tim Spicer |accessdate=2012-05-29 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120519034226/http://www.aegisworld.com/index.php/tim-spicer |archivedate=19 May 2012}}</ref> On 4 September of that year, two soldiers under his command, Mark Wright and James Fisher, shot and killed an 18-year old Catholic teenager named Peter McBride in disputed circumstances. Immediately following the incident, Wright and Fisher were interviewed by Spicer and three other officers before they were interrogated by the [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]] (RUC). In his 1999 autobiography ''An Unorthodox Soldier'', Spicer wrote that "I thought between us we could reach a balanced judgement on what happened."<ref name="unorthodox">''An Unorthodox Soldier'', by Tim Spicer, Mainstream Publishing, 1999, p. 121.<!-- isbn needed --></ref> 

The two soldiers were subsequently tried via [[court-martial]], which convicted them of [[murder]] and sentenced the pair to [[life imprisonment]] at [[HM Prison Maghaberry]] on 10 February 1995. At the court-martial, Wright and James claimed that they feared that McBride was about to throw an [[improvised explosive device]] he had hidden in a [[plastic bag]] towards them, a claim which Spicer supported (the bag was subsequently found to only contain a [[t-shirt]]).<ref>[http://patfinucanecentre.org/cases/pmcbride/mcbride.html "The murder of Peter Mc Bride"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116130207/http://patfinucanecentre.org/cases/pmcbride/mcbride.html |date=16 January 2014 }}, Pat Finucane Centre, accessed 7 January 2009.</ref> 

In reaction to their conviction, Spicer organised a [[lobbying]] campaign to free Wright and James, arguing that the two had legitimately believed that their lives were in imminent danger due to McBride's actions.<ref name="unorthodox"/> The campaign successfully persuaded the British government to free the pair from HM Prison Maghaberry on 2 September 1998, after they had spent roughly three and a half years in prison.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1375775/Guardsmen-jailed-for-murder-may-stay-in-Army.html|title=Guardsmen jailed for murder may stay in Army|first=David|last=Sharrock|date=25 November 2000|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|accessdate=26 April 2016}}</ref><ref name="The_Boston_Globe">{{cite web|date=22 June 2004|url=http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/06/22/security_firms_293m_deal_under_scrutiny/|title=Security firm's $293m deal under scrutiny|work=The Boston Globe|accessdate=9 May 2009|last=Charles M. Sennott}}</ref> Wright and James were flown to [[Catterick Garrison]] in [[Yorkshire]] to meet Spicer, where they stayed until the [[Army Board]] decided to reinstate them into the Scots Guards a month later; the pair subsequently served in the [[Iraq War]].<ref>[http://www.rte.ie/news/2003/0613/mcbride.html Belfast court rules on McBride killers], RTÉ News, 13 June 2003.</ref>