From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] JUDGE WAS UNREASONABLE, SAYS BEATEN BURGLAR'S LAWYER 051424 MAY 00 By Damien Brook, PA News A judge who said a burglar "deserved" a beating he received at the hands of two men whose home he broke into his home was unreasonable, the raider's lawyer said today. Burglar David Summers suffered a fractured skull, ribs, wrist and elbow, after being caught breaking into the house. He was jailed for a year. Home-owner Lee Gapper, 20, and his lodger, George Goodayle, 21, beat Summers with an aluminium baseball bat and their fists after he broke into their small terraced house in Peterborough in February. Summers fled, and the pair, clad in dressing gowns, chased him up the road. Sentencing Summers at Peterborough Crown Court earlier this week, Judge Huge Mayor QC refused to cut the prison term because of the injuries he had suffered, telling him: "They used reasonable force. "You brought it on yourself, and I have no sympathy for those who suffer hurt while committing a crime." But Summers's solicitor, Jeremy Roberts, said today that the occupiers of the house, in Peterborough, had gone beyond reasonable force and should also have been prosecuted as well. "In light of the Tony Martin case where he was jailed for life we need to have some consistency in the law," Mr Roberts said. Reclusive Norfolk farmer Martin was jailed for life for murdering 16-year-old Fred Barras when he broke into his isolated home last year. Mr Roberts said Summers - who had admitted burglary - had previous convictions for breaking and entering, but added: "David knows he was wrong in entering the property but he was on drugs and he thought the house was unoccupied. "He is not a violent man and he was leaving the property when he was attacked with a baseball bat and the attack continued on him after he had left the property." Mr Gapper told yesterday how he was "genuinely frightened" when he came down the stairs to confront Summers, saying: "I thought he had a spanner and was going to hit me so I swung the bat at him. "I hit his about three times and then he ran out and jumped over the fence and we went after him." He and Mr Goodayle were later arrested and held in police cells after Summers complained that he had been attacked, but were then released and told they would not face any charges. But Mr Roberts said: "There is no way in my opinion that their actions could be considered as reasonable force. "I think there is a natural reaction to finding someone on your property and their's was an unnatural reaction." And he added: "David was severely beaten and has been punished twice . Overall the sentence was not unreasonable, but the law needs to be clarified as soon as possible, which hopefully the Court of Appeal will do in the case of Tony Martin." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Drug addiction is a terrible thing and anyone snared by it has my sympathy but its a poor excuse for crime. Kenneth Pantling Whatever happens they have got The Maxim Gun, and we have not. -- To seriously suggest that you could at that moment decide how many times hitting the burglar would or would not constitute "reasonable force" defies belief. Yes, the law needs to be clarified, so that when someone like Mr Roberts' client gets whacked over the head while burgling a home the people who whacked him don't get hauled down the nick and locked up. Steve. -------[Cybershooters contacts]-------- Editor: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website & subscription info: www.cybershooters.org
