78 pensioner arrested for fatally stabbing burglar in his own home

[SShaming]

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?

This man was threatened with a screwdriver in the kitchen. If the burglar was killed with that screwdriver, then that would be self-defence.

not necessarily ...

If the burglar was leaving and the man attacked him with a kitchen knife, that would be entirely different.

yes. But as suggested upthread, what if the attacker was leaving to attack someone else ? Maybe someone upstairs ?

If that were the case, then a knife in the back might be entirely appropriate (although for a different reason than self defence).

I'm sorry, but the minute you enter someone else's house armed, you have to accept that they might not like you doing that & will take action.

Unless there's something drastic not being said it's pretty clear that a 78 year old faced with 2 men, 1 of whom was armed, is pretty likely to be sat in the custody suite at the moment, door open, with a cup of tea & some biscuits while some very nice police officers take his statement & look after him. He's not going to be banged up anywhere nasty with cuffs on!

He'll be home by the end of the week & will hopefully be feted as a bit of a hero.

Whilst the proud family of a 38 year old thug that wasn't even capable of intimidating a pensioner will have to live with the consequences of the thugs lifestyle choice.

Good, I like a happy ending.

If the burglar was leaving and the man attacked him with a kitchen knife, that would be entirely different.

Again, very easy to judge from the comfort of your own sofa whilst sipping your mug of tea. When someone is under extreme stress, all reason goes out of the window and people can act in the most random way. Who knows how the brain of a threatened home owner will translate the situation?

Trial by Mumsnet

It is shocking the amount of posters who sympathise with the perpetrators. I haven't seen anyone "sympathising with the perpetrators." The discussion on here is basically about whether people should be able to take the law into their own hands.

No, people should not take matters in their hands, but police should prioritise actually catching the burglars.

Which they did not seem to do. So elderly people feel unprotected in their own homes.

Tony Martin was nuts stood at top of his stairs & shot the burglar (at bottom of stairs, not armed with a projectile weapon) in the back. He was convicted by a jury of his peers.

I don't know facts about the story OP gave. I hope justice is done. There are many stories (eg) where people defended themselves with deadly force & were not convicted.

@hesterton

Grow up

Nicknacky

Yes, put simply

So not wanting to put the dead mans head on a pike and expecting a full investigation into the circumstances of his death is sympathising with criminals is it?

OK.

No, people should not take matters in their hands, but police should prioritise actually catching the burglars. Which they did not seem to do. So elderly people feel unprotected in their own homes

Once again, how do you know if the police prioritise burglaries or not? this time try and read any link you post

I lived in Norfolk at the time of Tony Martins release, he was hailed as a hero locally. He shot the burglar in the back as he was running away, not particularly heroic in my eyes. I'd be hesitant to judge to early, we don't know the character or history of the 78 year old yet. I'm surprised he hasn't been charged with man slaughter rather than murder.

I get what you’re saying, but I wouldn’t interpret the arrest as anything in particular.

The Police have a duty to investigate, a man has died so they have to arrest and gather evidence and do an investigation.

The CPS might decide it was self defence.

The Tony Martin case, it wasn’t found to be a “reasonable” defence because he shot the burglar in the back as he was leaving. Tony Martin wasn’t defending himself at that point.
That’s the status of English law at present I know many would like to see it changed.

I'm surprised he hasn't been charged with man slaughter rather than murder.
He hasn't been charged with ANYTHING.

Hopefully it'll come to nothing, but the police have to look into it of course. I hope the elderly chap is ok.

It is now being reported that his disabled wife was in bed and that one of the burglars went upstairs. They must have been terrified.

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

How many exactly?

I haven’t read the threads as I haven’t got all day, but i commend the old man. The 2 dicks that entered the house crossed the line and one paid with his life. Well tuff shit eh? One less shitbag on earth.

I sympathise with the old man and his wife. They were terrified.

news.met.police.uk/news/response-to-commissioners-position-on-solving-burglary-236214

And here you have it from the horses mouth.

On burglary she said: “I know it is a crime that can really upset people, of course it can, and I’m not saying that officers won’t attend and that we won’t assess it, of course we will. We will take a first report and we will look at what we’ve got and we will try to support the victim in whatever way we can but we’re not going to go in for meaningless activity.”

So, we'll take a report, and will look into cases we think we can solve, but "We are not going to go in for meaningless activity", meaning we won't waste time for cases we don't think we can solve.

Also, only 14 arrests for hundred burglaries only are made.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35263150

Yes, it's a link from 2016, but I seriously doubt things are any better now.

Where is your evidence burglaries are taken seriously?

My force area don’t routinely attend initial reports of housebreakings to outhouses, huts etc. What gain is there for an officer to attend and say “oh yes, the padlock has been broken and entry gained”?

They will later be allocated to officers for enquiry. Without doubt, it is a hard crime to solve.

Of course they have to arrest him and do a full investigation a man has died

How do you know he didn’t set it up and things went wrong or his wife didn’t

*I haven’t read the threads as I haven’t got all day, but i commend the old man. The 2 dicks that entered the house crossed the line and one paid with his life. Well tuff shit eh? One less shitbag on earth.

I sympathise with the old man and his wife. They were terrified*

I assume you know the couple personally? Or have some inside information? Otherwise how do you know without reasonable doubt what happened?

Job - So what would you prefer the Police to do?