The family of Bradford soldier Lee Clegg today vowed they were now convinced they would win their fight to clear his name.

Hours after the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal quashed his murder conviction for shooting a Belfast joyrider and ordered a retrial, his dad Stan Clegg said he was proud of his son and was convinced of his innocence.

"We are so proud of the lad. It's been very hard for him. But you don't know what it's done inside him. A lot of people don't show their emotions," said Stan, of Cleckheaton.

"When all is said and done we have said he is innocent. We have been together all the way through. We know it was not Lee."

He said he was now confident that Lee, from Lidget Green, would be found not guilty when the retrial is held in October.

Mr Clegg's comments came after Lee, 29, spoke publicly for the first time since being convicted of the murder of 18-year-old Karen Reilly when he was on patrol in Belfast in 1990. Lee had already lost two appeals when his case was referred back to the Northern Ireland High Court.

At a press conference, held at the Queens Hotel in Leeds, Lee smiled into TV cameras and said: "I am pleased that as a result of my appeal to the Northern Ireland Appeal Court, I have been granted a re-trial."

He went on: "I would like to thank my family, my solicitor and of course, the Clegg Committee, and all those who have supported me through the last eight years."

Simon MacKay, his legal advisor, said he expected the re-trial to take place in the autumn.

"We are very confident we can put the case together for the re-trial and that it will prove his innocence."

He added: "Lee is a strong character, he has been able to deal with this, he has spent time in a Northern Ireland prison."

After watching Lee on television, his dad said: "It must be hard for the Reilly family."

He said he was disappointed that the conviction could not have been simply quashed without the need for a re-trial which would bring heartache to both families.

Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe, who first raised Lee's situation in parliament, said: "I am delighted about the news to day. It vindicates the efforts we have been putting in over quite a number of years to clear his name."

Lee, a Lance Corporal now serving at the Catterick army base in North Yorkshire, was one of several at a checkpoint in West Belfast who opened fire on a stolen car as it sped through eight years ago. The shots killed Karen Reilly, 18, who was a passenger inside and Lee was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life before being released two years later.

The driver of the car, Martin Peake, 17, also died in the shooting on the city's Republican Glen Road.

The car was hit 19 times, four times by Clegg who insisted he aimed the bullets at the side of the car and not the back.

But the dead teenager's father Sean Reilly said he was distressed at the way Lee had decided to drag out the legal process.

"Our nightmare at the death of our daughter is continuing unabated at every legal turn. Karen has never been allowed to rest in peace. We have been unable to properly grieve in private."

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams meanwhile described the court ruling as "outrageous".

"It is a green light to members of the British Crown forces that they can kill Irish civilians with impunit," he said.

The Northern Ireland Court of Appeal ruled that fresh ballistic evidence cast doubt on the conviction.

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