From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Though this has cropped up before on the list, the death of the trial judge,
Sir David Croom-Johnson, produced an interesting obituary in the Telegraph.
Extract:
<<...Waldorf had been a passenger in a mini travelling along a street in
Earl's Court when he was mistaken by the defendants, two detectives from
Scotland Yard, for a dangerous fugitive. (They) had opened fire, intending as
they later admitted, to kill him. As Waldorf lay wounded, one of the
constables struck him across the head. He almost died from his wounds.
Although it transpired during the case that the man for whom the detectives
had mistaken Steven Waldorf had never previously attacked them,
Croom-Johnson said in his summing-up: "Supposing one is threatened, you do
not have to wait to be struck. If the circumstances are justified, you can
get your blow in first to prevent attack."
He instructed the jury to put aside their "great sympathy" for Steven
Waldorf, and reminded them that just because an innocent man had been shot,
that did not mean a crime had been committed and that someone had to pay. The
jury found the detectives not guilty.>>
Croom-Johnson is described as a courteous, quietly-spoken man, one who
commanded minesweepers in WW2 as a Reserve officer, being awarded the DSC
after notable work in front of the D-Day beaches.
I actually think there is something to be said for his summing-up: accidents
do happen, and despite our horror at the thought of an innocent man's being
shot and beaten up by the police, I don't necessarily blame the detectives,
rash and impetuous though they might seem. What interests me particularly
here are the judge's words about getting your blow in first, which seem
significant in relation to self defence, and to contradict what I thought was
the serious handicap (if faced with the prospect of criminal assault) of not
being allowed by the law to take pre-emptive action. Any parallel with the
Tony Martin case here?
Anthony Harrison
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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