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|  04-04-2011, 11:09 PM | #1 | |||
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| User tanned | Quote: 
 In 1999, Martin, a bachelor, was living alone at his farmhouse in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk, nicknamed Bleak House, which he inherited at age 35 from his uncle.[2] He claimed to have been burgled a total of ten times, losing £6,000 worth of furniture. Martin also complained about police inaction over the burglaries. The police reports state that multiple items and furniture were stolen such as dinner ware and a grandfather clock.[citation needed] On the night of 20 August 1999, two burglars – Brendon Fearon, 29, and Fred Barras, 16 – broke into Bleak House.[3] When confronted, they attempted to flee through a window. Shooting downwards in the dark, with a pump-action Winchester shotgun he owned illegally, Martin shot towards the intruders. Fearon was hit in the leg, and Barras in the back. Barras escaped through the window but died at the scene.[1] On 10 January 2000, Fearon and Darren Bark, 33 (who had acted as the getaway driver), both from Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, admitted to conspiring to burgle Martin's farmhouse. Fearon was sentenced to three years in prison, and Bark to 30 months [3] (with an additional 12 months arising from previous offences). Fearon was released on 10 August 2001.[3] Fred Barras, the dead youth, had accumulated a lengthy criminal record, having been arrested 29 times by the time of his death at the age of 16, and had been sentenced to two months in a young offenders' institution for assaulting a policeman, theft and being drunk and disorderly. On the night he was killed, the teenager had just been released on bail after being accused of stealing garden furniture. Barras' grandmother, Mary Dolan, stated: "It's not fair that the farmer has got all the money and he is the one that took Fred away.[4] | |||
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|  04-04-2011, 11:11 PM | #2 | ||
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| 0_o | Quote: 
 Basically, police are useless and all they seem to care about is keeping the paperwork up :/ | ||
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|  04-04-2011, 11:17 PM | #3 | ||
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| Senior Member | Quote: 
 If he owned a shotgun illegally and used it, then he deserves everything he gets, burglary or no burglary. Last edited by Tom.; 04-04-2011 at 11:17 PM. | ||
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|  04-04-2011, 11:22 PM | #4 | |||
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 he was just minding his own business in his own home ffs. He's the victim here, cearly. And who can blame him for having a gun after being invaded that many times without any protection from the police? he was probably scared witless by the time of the shootings. Free Tony Martin!! Oh wait, he's already out... | |||
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|  04-04-2011, 11:25 PM | #5 | ||
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 I hate this kinda...put the blame on the victim for not doing enough mentality.. so much :S And as the upping security in his home thing...he did that, he got a shotgun... Last edited by Vicky.; 04-04-2011 at 11:25 PM. | ||
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|  04-04-2011, 11:26 PM | #6 | ||
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| Senior Member | Quote: 
 Maybe he should have bought better windows and doors, some cameras, an alarm etc like the rest of us do Last edited by Tom.; 04-04-2011 at 11:27 PM. | ||
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|  04-04-2011, 11:28 PM | #7 | ||
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|  04-04-2011, 11:31 PM | #8 | ||
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|  04-04-2011, 11:32 PM | #9 | |||
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| User tanned | Quote: 
 And it got even more ridiculous when one of the burglars, Fearon, went on to sue him....OMFG the nerve; During 2003, Fearon applied for, and received, an estimated £5,000 of legal aid to sue Martin for loss of earnings due to the injuries he had sustained.[13] However, the case was thrown into doubt when photographs were published in The Sun, showing him "cycling and climbing with little apparent difficulty" suggesting that Fearon's injuries were not as serious as had been claimed.[14] While the case was pending, Fearon was recalled to jail after being charged with the theft of a vehicle while on probation on a conviction for dealing heroin.[15] Fearon later dropped the case when Martin agreed to drop a counter-claim. Tens of thousands of pounds of public money had been spent on the case.[16] | |||
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|  04-04-2011, 11:33 PM | #10 | ||
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| Senior Member | Quote: 
 If he wanted to stay in the house then maybe he should have. Who else would stay in a house after being robbed that much? Last edited by Tom.; 04-04-2011 at 11:34 PM. | ||
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|  04-04-2011, 11:33 PM | #11 | ||
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|  04-04-2011, 11:40 PM | #12 | |||
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| Honourary Super Moderator | Quote: 
 Last edited by Kerry; 04-04-2011 at 11:41 PM. | |||
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|  05-04-2011, 11:46 AM | #13 | |||
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| Senior Member | 
			
			No, I believe that the minute they step into your house then they should lose all of their rights. I mean, yeah, you can't go overboard and start torturing the burgler for hours or anything like that but if you was to hit them to defend yourself and/or your family from the burgler and he happened to die then thats tough luck for the burgler. He shouldn't have stepped into your house in the first place so no one can complain if he was to get seriously injured or die.
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