FORMER paratrooper Lee Clegg, who won a lengthy battle to clear his name over the shooting of two teenage joyriders in Belfast, has been rejected for a job in the police force, it emerged yesterday.

Clegg fired at a stolen car as it burst through a checkpoint in Belfast in September 1990, claiming he feared a terrorist attack.

The paratrooper, who later became an Army physical training instructor at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, was jailed for life in 1993 for murdering 18-year-old Karen Reilly and wounding 17-year-old Martin Peake, who later died.

He was freed on licence two years later and was cleared of the murder at a re-trial in March 1999. The wounding conviction was quashed last year.

But West Yorkshire Police confirmed yesterday that Clegg had been turned down after the force took legal advice over his application.

A spokeswoman said: "The decision was taken after detailed consideration of the many issues surrounding his case and on the receipt of legal advice."

Clegg, who is now taking his case to Home Secretary David Blunkett, said he was "absolutely devastated" by the decision.