Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

78 pensioner arrested for fatally stabbing burglar in his own home

999 replies

SShaming · 04/04/2018 12:20

2 burglars break into a 78 year old man’s home armed with screwdriver.

Forces owner into the kitchen whilst one of them goes upstairs.

A fight ensues, leaving pensioner with injuries to his arm and burglary is fatally stabbed. Perhaps with his own screwdriver although this is TBC.

Police arrest pensioner.

On what planet is this right?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
Oblomov18 · 04/04/2018 15:52

What happened to the Tony Martin case in the end?

ikeepaforkinmypurse · 04/04/2018 15:53

I feel even more sorry about the fact his house is being shown all over the media, so he is at risk of reprisal from the criminal friends. How is that poor man ever going to sleep peacefully again.

Nicknacky · 04/04/2018 15:54

To be fair, I don’t think the burglars pals will be too quick to want to break into that mans house!!!!

frankchickens · 04/04/2018 15:54

What happened to the Tony Martin case in the end?

Don't they have Google where you live?

Aeroflotgirl · 04/04/2018 15:54

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/04/04/suspected-burglar-dies-tussle-pensioner-78/

There was no reason why these men should be in a private house, especially past midnight. They had no reason to be there. I hope this poor man is released without charge.

It is shocking the amount of posters who sympathise with the perpetrators. The only person I feel sorry for is that poor pensioner who was probably scared shitless, that 2 men forced their way into his house at night. If your a burglar, being killed is an occupational hazard I am afraid, I hope it puts other burglars off.

SaucyJane · 04/04/2018 15:55

I think thieves, burglars and robbers are utterly disgusting. Anyone who steals someone else's possessions is a piece of shit. Breaking into the house of an elderly person when armed with a weapon is particularly fucking vile.

BUT it doesn't justify killing anyone, unless it couldn't be helped in the heat of the moment for self defence, and it still needs a full and thorough investigation into exactly what happened. What sort of a society would it be otherwise?

Nicknacky · 04/04/2018 15:58

areo can you pint out the posters who have sympathised? I’ve not seen one person sympathise, just those that don’t agree with the death of a person without the facts being known.

Aeroflotgirl · 04/04/2018 15:58

I do agree Saucy, I hope that they find him not guilty and release him, or the investigation does not take long for him to be released.

frankchickens · 04/04/2018 15:58

It is shocking the amount of posters who sympathise with the perpetrators

That's odd - I haven't read a single post that expressed any sympathy for the perpetrators - can you quote a few?

Aeroflotgirl · 04/04/2018 15:59

Its quite obvious what happened, the poor pensioner defended himself against two armed robbers in the middle of the night.

DGRossetti · 04/04/2018 16:00

It is shocking the amount of posters who sympathise with the perpetrators.

Not quite as shocking as the amount of posters who mistake debate assertions and questions as "sympathy". Takes all kinds, I guess.

Unless you'd care to cite a post sympathising with the perpetrators Hmm

MotherforkingShirtballs · 04/04/2018 16:02

Its quite obvious what happened, the poor pensioner defended himself against two armed robbers in the middle of the night

Someone alert the police, Detective Aero has cracked the case wide open for them.

How did you manage to conclude your investigation so quickly without access to the scene, forensic equipment, or any eye witness accounts? Do tell.

Ginorchoc · 04/04/2018 16:02

He would have been arrested to protect his rights. The Police will be required to speak to him and take items of clothing it’s a formality. Unless there is more to it than the limited knowledge of reporters he will very likely be released. I suspect he will be treated with care and dignity and will have everything explained to him.

MrsTerryPratchett · 04/04/2018 16:02

I have a friend who broke into someone's property. He was having a very severe psychotic episode and believed people were after him. The home owners sat him down, calmed him down and called the police to cope with it. Thank goodness they were kind, reasonable people who didn't have a gun to hand.

The police don't know what happened, the press don't know what happened, none of us know what happened. So someone needs to investigate. And being arrested is important because it gives you rights. The right to legal representation, for example. What with this being a poor, frail pensioner.

Oh and We are not even allowed pepper spray or equivalent in this country!. We are allowed bear spray here in Canada and guess what? Criminals use it. Having seen a drug dealer fight that went wrong using bear spray and caught one of my colleagues in the cross-fire, I'm glad we're not allowed it.

SofieMonde · 04/04/2018 16:03

I thought if you stabbed an intruder from the front it was self defence but stabbing them in the back is ...murder?

Either way this is totally insane. Hope he gets released soon

kierenthecommunity · 04/04/2018 16:04

Unfortunate these days policemen are instructed to arrest you whatever the circumstances if anyone gets badly hurt or killed. This seems very unfair in this case, but we don’t know all the circumstances yet.

Whether someone is killed or not the police have two criteria when arresting someone. First there has to be a crime, secondly there has to be necessity

Necessity includes (amongst other things) for the prompt and effective investigation of the allegation (including interview and evidence gathering) preventing further injury, prevention disappearance of the suspect and protecting vulnerable victims

So just say for sake of argument the 78 year old chap was a master criminal who’d killed someone in a fit of rage, then was gunning for the missing person, what would stop him killing again, stripping his house of evidence and fleeing abroad if he wasn’t arrested?

GruffaloPants · 04/04/2018 16:05

Someone's dead.

If it was self-defence that will come out in the investigation. The police shouldn't make assumptions. I'm sure they are handling things sensitively.

Tony Martin shot a child who was running away after a burglary (climbing out a window), so no sympathy here.

Bourdic · 04/04/2018 16:05

Arrested is different from charged

funnylittlefloozie · 04/04/2018 16:06

Aeroflot, are you the other burglar? Or the man's wife? Becuase if you are neither, you cannot possibly assert that what happened was "obvious". Its certainly the most likely course of events, but it certainly isn't "obvious".

I can't say that I favour the death penalty for burglary, but if this is in fact a case of a householder fatally stabbing an intruder in self-defence, then i won't be shedding any tears for the burglar. I would however be worried about reprisals for the old man.

DGRossetti · 04/04/2018 16:06

Arrested is different from charged

You still have fingerprints and DNA taken and kept forever.

frankchickens · 04/04/2018 16:07

Either way this is totally insane

No, it's how we do things in a civilised country.

Aeroflotgirl · 04/04/2018 16:08

Reading the information Mother thanks for the sarcasm. Yes it has to be investigated of course it does, it could well have been the other way, with the poor pensioner killed.

DGRossetti · 04/04/2018 16:08

First there has to be a crime, secondly there has to be necessity

Necessity and self-defence are not the same.

Aeroflotgirl · 04/04/2018 16:08

Yeh Mother, I would make an awsome detective Grin, loving my skills Grin.

Nicknacky · 04/04/2018 16:10

aero Tou would be a rubbish detective as you are too closed mind and unwilling to consider any other alternatives.

Swipe left for the next trending thread