From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
As you might already have heard, Tony Martin was found guilty of murder, and
given
Life. He plans to appeal. See below for details, from the Telegraph:
----
A NORFOLK farmer who claimed he was only defending himself and his home when
he shot dead a teenage intruder during a burglary was jailed for life
yesterday after being convicted of murder.
Tony Martin: said he had been in fear of his life when he shot at the
intruders
The judge said the fates of Tony Martin, 55, and Fred Barras, the
16-year-old he killed with a shotgun blast to the back, were "a dire
warning" to burglars and householders who used unreasonable force to protect
their homes. Mr Justice Owen said the case had also raised serious questions
about the level of rural crime and ordered that concerns over policing the
countryside be brought to the attention of the Chief Constable of Norfolk.
The jury of six men and six women at Norwich Crown Court voted 10-2 to
convict Martin of murder but cleared him of the attempted murder of Brendon
Fearon, 30, the ringleader of the burglary gang from Newark,
Nottinghamshire. Martin, who had suffered repeated burglaries at his remote
and squalid Victorian farmhouse before Fearon and Barras broke in on Aug 20
last year, stared at the jury impassively as they returned their verdict
after almost 10 hours.
Nick Makin, his solicitor, said there would be an immediate appeal. He said:
"If this area had been properly policed, Fred Barras would be alive today."
Members of the teenager's family in the court roared in approval as the
verdict was returned. A female relative shouted at Martin: "I hope you die
in jail."
Martin told the trial that he had been in fear of his life when he shot at
Barras and Fearon, who suffered serious leg injuries. He opened fire after
being woken when the intruders smashed a window in his farmhouse in Emneth,
west Norfolk.
His claim that he had shot at them from halfway down the stairs was
disproved by scientific evidence that showed he must have fired his
illegally-held, pump-action shotgun from the doorway of a downstairs room.
The prosecution accused him of angrily lying in wait for the burglars and
opening fire, without warning, from close range in retribution for previous
robberies at his home.
Fearon ripped out a window as the two burglars fled. Barras staggered about
15ft before collapsing in the undergrowth and dying within two minutes. Many
members of the local farming community had rallied to Martin's cause by
sending letters of support and cash for his defence.
But the shooting of Fred Barras, a repeat offender from a family of
travellers, enraged others. The trial was told that a �60,000 underworld
contract had been offered to kill the eccentric farmer, known to some locals
as "Mad Man Martin".
Hilary Martin, 86, his mother, said last night: "I am devastated, shocked
and upset. Because of this verdict, decent people will not be able to sleep
at night. He was merely defending himself against people who are thieves and
vagabonds. They are evil. If he did not act as he did, they would have
kicked his head in. He was going to defend himself and he panicked."
The Barras family - the boy's mother Ellen, his father Fred and his five
sisters - said they did not condone the boy's actions but he should have
been dealt with by the justice system. A statement issued by the family
said: "He was not given that chance. Please remember that he was just 16 and
the baby of our family. We are all devastated by his loss."
After the verdicts, Mr Justice Owen told the court: "It seems to me that
this case does serve as a dire warning to all burglars who break in to the
houses of other people. Every citizen is allowed to use reasonable force to
prevent crime. Burglary is a crime. The householder in his own home may
think he is being reasonable but that can have tragic consequences."
Ken Williams, the county's chief constable, acknowledged later that concerns
over rural crime had become a major issue since the shootings. Martin had
suffered so many losses from his farm and from his antiques-filled home that
he believed it was "a waste of time" working with the police.
Mr Williams said: "In an ideal world. I would have all the resources I need.
However, we police in the real world and have to make do with what we have."
Det Chief Insp Martin Wright, who led the murder investigation, said that he
derived no personal satisfaction from Martin's conviction and said the case
had been "a tragedy" for all involved.
He said: "I think the central lesson is that members of the public should
not take the law into their own hands. The one problem with Mr Martin was
that he was clearly a repeat victim of crime but we rarely heard from him."
Richard Portham, a spokesman for the local Martin support group, described
the shootings as "a crime committed in terror". He said: "The jury's
decision will have devastating consequences for the safety of people in
their own homes. Householders faced by intruders now have no effective
protection in law."
Martin appeared unrepentant about the shootings in an interview conducted by
the BBC while he was in a "safe house" awaiting trial. He said: "We are
supposed to live in a civilised society, but that is not the way I have been
treated. People are not aware of what it's like in the countryside:
criminals prevail - it cannot be right. It's not reasonable that people
should live in fear."
Martin was also sentenced to 10 years after being found guilty of wounding
Fearon. He had earlier pleaded guilty to possessing the shotgun without a
firearms certificate, for which he received 12 months.
----
It is a sad day for the rights of the individual.
Nigel
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