WHEN Lee Clegg joined the British Army he was a working-class teenager with neither high ranking military connections nor powerful political associates. His greatest claim to fame was that he was a member of the elite parachute regiment working in Belfast at the time of The Troubles.
Even after Clegg shot and killed a teenage joyrider in controversial circumstances in 1990 his case remained relatively obscure outside Northern Ireland's capital.
Later, when he was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, his conviction caused barely a ripple in British society.
Today, however, Private Lee Clegg is perhaps the most famous, well-connected soldier of his menial rank in Britain thanks to an extraordinary public campaign for his release.
Those who Clegg can now count as allies read like a Who's Who of British establishment with 100 MPs (mainly Conservative); the top brass of the British military and the country's powerful right-wing press all battling for the 26-year-old's release. These most unlikely of civil rights activists say that Clegg is innocent of murder and has been a scapegoat for carrying out his duty in extreme conditions.
According to the campaigners, Clegg made a fatal but understandable mistake when he fired on a speeding car which 'smashed' through an army checkpoint in September 1990.
In an area reportedly notorious for IRA activity, it was highly likely that the car contained terrorists who planned to attack the patrol, they say. Unfortunately, after more than 30 bullets forced the vehicle to a halt, the only bodies found inside were those of 17-year-old Martin Peake and 18-year-old Karen Reilly - not highly trained assassins but reckless teenager joyriders.