Tony Martin sounds a lovely man.
"A committal hearing heard that he believed "Hitler was right" in his policies towards Gypsies. His views would have pleased his uncle by marriage, Andrew Fountaine, a founder of the National Front.
Martin was a regular visitor to Fountaine's home, at Narford Hall, near Swaffham, Norfolk, not far from Bleak House. It was here that the fascist leader organised regular Aryan summer camps, which prompted the Home Office on one occasion to refuse entry permission to a number of continental fascists."
And:
"Many people in the Fen villages near Emneth in Norfolk believed the "weird" farmer to be harmless. But others, who had heard him espouse his hatred for burglars and what he would do with them if he caught them, had taken to giving Martin a wide berth.
Apart from thieves, Martin's pet hate was Gypsies. Norwich crown court heard that the farmer had talked of putting Gypsies in the middle of a field, surrounding it with barbed wire and machine gunning them. Fred Barras, the boy he killed, was both of these things: a Gypsy and a thief."
He was found with guns he had no right to keep, after his license was revoked in 1994 after a troubling series of incidents. He shot someone dead 8 years later.
I was a law student at the time. He started shooting from the stairs (covered under the law). By the time he stopped shooting, he'd chased them outside and blocked their escape so he could kill one of them (not covered under the law).
I fail to see how anyone could think murdering someone is okay for burglary. Sure, the family sound vile. But really? You have the right to chase after and kill someone who wants to steal your things? Who appoints the householder judge, jury and executioner? We've been the victims of a very violent crime. My husband could have been killed in a street robbery when I was 6 months pregnant. He was knocked out. The same gang attacked 6 other people that night - they stole my husband's wedding ring. They are probably still scum (one went out and burgled, when on bail). But that doesn't mean he should have the right to kill them, if we aren't now at any risk ourselves.
And Tony Martin is a bizarre person to select as a have-a-go martyr, IMO.