From: "rastech", [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi Steve, I got this from Niel: ***** "Quoting a piece of writing over 200 years old is pointless. What has this to do with the trial of a man for shooting a burglar? It wasn't, and could not have been, self defence until the trial was over - that was the point of the trial. Why are you quoting me this? Do you think that anyone should be allowed to shoot anyone and on their say so call it self defence? Are you seriously saying that there should be no case to answer for anyone killing a person in their own home on the basis that they could automatically call it self defence? Neil Francis Trowbridge, UK " ***** Read the following Niel, from today's Sun : COPS TOOK FARM VICTIM'S GUN Tragic Daniel ... burgled 60 times EXCLUSIVE By NEIL SYSON AN elderly farmer was killed with a screwdriver by a burglar after cops took away the shotgun he relied on for protection. Daniel Taylor's isolated home was robbed SIXTY times in 15 years. But for the last six years of his life, the helpless 72-year-old bachelor was left unarmed at the mercy of ruthless raiders. He was murdered at his isolated Essex home in December 1996 by housebreaker Martin O'Len, 42, now serving life. Jobless martial arts instructor O'Len battered him about the head and rammed a screwdriver into his stomach and neck. Daniel's nightmare and horror fate, revealed by his brother John, bear uncanny similarities to the case of Tony Martin, who got life for murdering 16-year-old habitual burglar Fred Barras. BOTH men were eccentrics living alone in ramshackle homes. BOTH lived in fear after numerous break-ins, but were prohibited from owning weapons - though Martin ignored the ban. Daniel's brother spoke out yesterday as Sun readers - already in uproar over the sentence on Martin - read how widow Mary Gill, 84, suffered a fractured skull when she was battered by a burglar at her Exeter home. John, 71, of Eastbourne, East Sussex, declared: "Tony Martin has suffered a grave injustice. I have every sympathy with him. "My brother had a couple of guns for shooting pests, but in 1990, the police wouldn't renew his licence. Under siege ... Daniel's isolated home was raided weekly just before he was killed "I think that with all the break-ins, they felt the guns might be used on an intruder." Daniel, who farmed a 20-acre market garden at the isolated Poplars in Noak Hill, near Romford, was being targeted by burglars EVERY WEEK shortly before he was murdered. Days before the tragedy, he called police when three men tried to batter down his front door at 3.30am. John's wife Audrey, 68, said: "By then, there was virtually nothing left to take. "All the family hand-downs had gone, even the china. On the Monday before the murder, we went up to see him. He was nervous and we asked him to come away with us. "But he was a bit of a recluse, and wouldn't leave. It had always been his home. "His body was found at the bottom of the stairs. He would not have stood a chance." She added: "The Martin case has brought it all back and it had been hard for us. "We think Mr Martin was right to defend himself. "We don't know if Daniel could have pulled a trigger. "But if he had been allowed to defend himself, perhaps he would be here now." ****** Niel, the Police were not there when that man needed them, they were not there when Tony Martin needed them, they were not there when Jill Dando needed them, and you can put money on it, they will not be there when you need them. Are you seriously saying, that anybody can have the time, in the middle of the night, in their own home, confronted by intruders, to debate the pro's and con's of decisions that need to be taken on the spur of the moment? That is why breaking into houses is considered in itself a violent offence, and a deeply serious matter - even if the courts aren't presently interpreting it as that. The alternative, is simply to condemn people in their homes to rape, murder, or whatever. Are you seriously suggesting, that decent law abiding people, must timidly submit to such outrages, without any regard to their predicament? If so, you are nothing but an aider and abetter, of the most violent and destructive people in Society, and you should be deeply ashamed of yourself. Bob -------[Cybershooters contacts]-------- Editor: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website & subscription info: www.cybershooters.org
