Self-defence "by any means necessary"

Saturday, 4 December 2004 12:00 AM

Homeowners should have the right to defend their property, possessions and loved ones with any force deemed necessary against burglars, Met Commissioner Sir John Stevens has said.

The UK's most senior policeman said the law should swing more towards the victims, even in cases where the burglar dies.

Sir John told The Daily Telegraph that homeowners should be prosecuted only when there was indubitable evidence of gratuitous violence.

British judges currently define the use of "reasonable force" in cases where people face burglars in their own homes.

Sir John said the law needed clarification as the public was confused on the issue.

Although clear limits should be set at gratuitous or excessive violence, people ought to be at liberty to defend themselves, he argued

"My own view is that people should be allowed to use what force is necessary and they should be allowed to do so without any risk of prosecution," he said.

"There is a definite feeling around when I go out on the beat with officers and talk to members of the public that we need clarity in the law.

"The test at the moment is that you use reasonable force in the circumstances. You do not use excessiveness."

His statement comes days after financier John Monckton was stabbed to death by a burglar in Chelsea, West London.

Sir John said the high profile case of Tony Martin, the Norfolk farmer imprisoned for shooting dead a burglar in 1999, had clouded the self-defence issue.

"The Martin case skewed everything and it was the wrong case to concentrate on."

Sir John retires from the Met in January after five years directing Scotland Yard.

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