And maybe the burglar's scumbag family, (and their cronies who hang around in the same circles,) will think twice before robbing people now.
Nope.
Many years ago, a gang of bank robbers found themselves locked up together in prison. Because they were "clever" bank robbers, they hatched a cunning plan to rib a bank on the very day of their release. After all they figured, the one day the police would never suspect them, would be the day they got out of prison.
So they're out bright and early one June day in 1977. It was the day a middle school in a different part of London was holding a ceremony to distribute a presentation Silver Jubilee coin in a box paid for by the PTA.
Because they were clever criminals, they had decided to target a bank a long way from "the Scrubs" where they were held. They were outside the bank at 11am, pulled on the stockings, pulled out the shotguns, and went in. They went in loud. They went in hard. They terrified the staff and the customers and were brutal and quick. They had no time for any nonsense, so when a customer came through the door as they were filling the bags it was a deadly crunch with a shotgun butt staving in the poor sods skull and leaving him in a pool of his own blood as they screamed off down the Great West Road.
Luckily, the customer was rushed to hospital, where they were able to remove the shattered bone from the brain. However the injury was so severe, they dared not do any more. So the man lived, but with permanent brain damage which left him jobless and forever sullied the day his little boy came home all excited with his jubilee coin.
Of course - even in the 70s, the police weren't quite as stupid as the criminals thought. They had advance notice of the planned job. The only thing they didn't know was which bank would be robbed. So they did the best they could and staked out the houses of the gang. Sure enough, these criminal masterminds arrived at one of the houses to count the loot where armed police caught them "bang to rights". They had been hoping to have a clear case of armed robbery, and were devastated that they had to deal with what was GBH and attempted murder.
It was later revealed in court that all the guns were oiled, cleaned, loaded with ammunition and had been fired recently - clearly tested. These criminals had absolutely no compunction in killing if anyone got in their way. As one policeman said to the victim, he was very lucky.
Obviously there was a trial and the victims injuries were a feature. The gang of four went down for 14 years - all guilty of armed robbery and attempted murder.
They served every single day.
Fast forward to the day of their release. They had lost none of their intelligence in jail, and had worked out that surely this time the one day they would never be suspected of a bank robbery would be the day they were released from jail ...
So one April in 1991, they found themselves in a car at the rear of a post office in a different part of London. They had chosen a post office because there had been a spate of bank robbers getting themselves killed in London in the late 80s early 90s by armed police who seemed to know where to be.
They rev the car to ram raid the post office. Unfortunately, because they were criminals, and therefore (it must be assumed) thick as pigshit, they managed to ram raid the kitchen shop next door.
Undeterred, they decide to go through the hole they've made and get to the post office that way.
As they are getting out of the car, a hidden squad of armed police appear, and issue the warning "Armed police, drop your weapons".
Demonstrating the ruthlessness they had 14 years previously, the gang try to open fire on the police. 3 are shot dead instantly. A fourth who was behind the car runs off. The rear of the Post Office was a back road which lead across a bridge over the tube into a housing estate. The robber ran over that bridge, into the estate where a mother was pushing a pram. He saw her and ran towards her (the police at the inquest suggested the only explanation was to take a hostage). All the while he was firing back at the pursuing police who were able to safely shoot him before he could present a danger to anyone. As they stated at the inquest they were forced to limit fire and aim, which resulted in a wound to the abdomen which proved fatal - after an unpleasant time.
The moral of that story ? Criminals really are that thick.
How do I know that story ? I still have that Jubilee coin.
And why am I opposed to capital punishment ? Because the death of those robbers didn't bring back the man that used to be my Dad. But God bless the police that put their lives on the line - if you are enough of a fucking moron that you wave a weapon around in public, then all power to the police to stop you and to protect us all.