An Englishman's home... - ..is it his castle?

Papa Shango

There has been a bit of a story recently about a farmer who shot dead a man who broke into his home. I understand that in america it is legal to kill a man who gains illegal entry to your house. I think we need the same sort of law here. At the moment we are allowed to use 'reasonable force' to restrain the offender until the police arrive.. which is a joke in itself if i see some man in my house in the early hours i am going to do my best to defend myself, my home and my family. I especially wouldnt expect to go to prison for it.

Another instance here is a burglar sueing a home owner because he got shot at or something.

Is it right to kill someone who breaks into our home? Can that law be exploited? (ala Cape Fear) or should we just tuck ourselves up in bed and wait for the thief to quietly leave the house?

Good Ol' JP

I heard the other day on the radio that a blind man killed someone who broke into his house and the family of the man who died was going nuts about it (the blind man got off). It had interviews with his friends calling it a miscarrage of justice, i bet that they would have a different opinion if they where related to the blind man, or even if they where just impartial.

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If I am no one, and no one is perfect, then I am perfect.

Dr. Giganto

[quote:post_uid0="Papa Shango"]Is it right to kill someone who breaks into our home?[/quote:post_uid0]
absolutely. as long as you dont take it too far. Like, if you have the guy restrained already (maybe knocked out and tied to a chair), and you go to the closest, pull out a gun, and shoot him in the face. Thats not right. but if you are simply defending yourself and your home, then you should be able to do whatever is necessary to do so

Papa Shango

I dont think many people would go for the whole torture thing any way.. plus i guess theres not much you can do to prove whether you killed him instantly.. or after a short while.

Anyone who breaks into your home should lose all rights and be at your mercy.

Matt S.

Tony Martin shot an unarmed sixteen year old who was running away from him.

In my mind, Tony Martin is a murderer, and if he rotted in jail I wouldn't have cared. Him being released after 4 years of his term is one of the biggest tragidies in the British justice system in history.

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Miakal

Of course you should be able to defend yourself.

There are limits to what you can do if someone is breaking into your house. For example, Matt S's's's story about the boy breaking in and then running away and being shot. In America that would also be illegal.