To agree that Tony Martin's murder conviction should be over turned?

[FeckingEll]

Just read an article that he is appealing against his conviction so his name is cleared before he dies. It always troubled me.

Putting myself in the position of living in a isolated farm which had been continously burgled, probably living in a state of hyper vigilance. Home invaded by a group of young men in the middle of the night. It was not right that he shot when they were not actually advancing towards him but he wouldn't have known that they weren't going to turn round and come back.

He didn't seek anyone out to kill them and he couldn't have been expected to have taken account of the age of the people who had invaded his home.

Much was made of him 'booby trapping' his house but who wouldn't so you could hear if anyone got in while you were sleeping?

The people responsible for the 16 year olds death were the adults who took him with them to invade someone else's house! It could easily have been Tony who was murdered. If someone invades your home in the middle of the night, you can expect that to be a potential outcome, no?

The way Tony was portrayed in the media was abhorrent especially as it has come out that he is on the autism spectrum.

?

I don't think there is any disagreement that the burglars were utterly vile people and committted criminals.

I agree Bertrand. It has to be said that Tony Martin isn't exactly pleasant either. Previous firm for shooting the back window out of a car, when he caught someone scrumping his apples. His house us very close to a children's home, mostly populated by "difficult" older children. Ant one of them could have ventured into his property thinking it was derelict.

He has a habit of driving straight at oncoming cars on the narrow back roads around where he lives.

Yes. All vile. But nobody deserved to be shot.

No, they didn't.

Has anyone on here seriously suggested that Barras and Fearon didn't intend to be there, or indeed that they didn't intend to commit crimes? It's still irrelevant to the fact that they didn't deserve to be killed at the point when they were posing no threat to Martin.

Honestly if Barras had been my son I’d spend the rest of my life wondering where the hell I went wrong as a parent.

IMO the revolting specimen that is Brandon Fearon is as responsible for Barras’ death as Tony Martin.

No sympathy at all for those 2 wastes of space that burgled Tony Martin that night.....If they had stayed at home instead of breaking the law and forcing an innnocent man into a situation he did not want to be in....Fred Barras would still be alive.

Agree with dinosaur

I watched to documentary last night and my feelings have not changed in that TM should not have spent a single day in prison. These people made his life hell and he feared for his life.. The police/system failed him.

I do find it odd that people seem to think that not wanting burglars to be shot while running away means having sympathy with burglars......

Everyone has a right to feel safe in their own home. And Barras was not running away btw

One less thieving scumbag on the streets !!!

I do find it odd that people seem to think that not wanting burglars to be shot while running away means having sympathy with burglars......

Exactly this. I'd like burglars to feel the full force of the law. I would not like them to be given a death sentence without a trial.

I wonder how many people on here have been in a house in the dead of night when a burglar has broken in, absolutely terrifying.

I'm generally a bleeding heart but on this particular issue I don't care what happens to someone who invades other people's homes to steal from them. It's not the stealing that I care about but the invasion of someone's home, a place where they should feel safe from harm. My parent's house was burgled while they were asleep upstairs a few years ago and it has had a lasting effect on them (and me since I live far away and worry about them).

If someone decides to invade someone's home they should understand that they are risking their life and I have zero sympathy for them.

I think there are 2 opinions here & depending on whether you’ve ever been burgled or not, I think, is a good indicator on which side of the fence you’ll be.
Having been burgled once & 2 other attempts made (at a different property) it is terrifying & despite it being 6/7 years ago now I still struggle to sleep a lot because of it. To say ‘not many burglars murder the occupier’ is completely negated by the fact that you can’t ask them if they intend on harming you! Coming face to face with a group of men in balaclavas is terrifying & the justice system is not a detterent for their behaviour. I do think he deserved it tbh.

I’m sorry I don’t agree. What he did was wrong.

If someone decides to invade someone's home they should understand that they are risking their life

What if they're doing it by accident, as in several cases outlined above? Or even something like police carrying out a welfare check?

The police announce themselves and loudly knock and I'm not sure how likely a scenario is of someone "accidentally" invading a home at nighttime, who for some reason doesn't announce themselves? Or knock/ring a bell etc...

Police didn't announce themselves, or knock, when they attended a domestic incident and got the wrong address. My mum came face to face with them at the top of her stairs! (She'd forgotten to lock the door......)

I don't understand all the people who say they have no sympathy for criminals.

But then have sympathy for someone who had a gun without a licence.

So they must have a hierarchy of criminals.

"I wonder how many people on here have been in a house in the dead of night when a burglar has broken in, absolutely terrifying."
I have. Twice. Once when I was alone. And if I had had a gun I would probably have shot at the man who came into my bedroom. Very different scenario from waiting up and shooting a retreating burglar in the back.

It really isn't a question of whether we have sympathy with the shot person, but whether we are seriously going to say that we will give carte blanche to the likes of Tony Martin to keep illegal guns and shoot at anything and everything that came onto his property. We know, for instance, that the farmhouse looked derelict and deserted. Suppose the person who came in had been a stranded traveller who just wanted a roof under which he could shelter for the night? Or a police officer investigating something suspicious? Would it have been OK for them to have been killed?

Keeping a gun without a licence for your own protection due to being continually targeted whilst living I am a remote location is a bit different to planning and carrying out a home invasion Marco. If you can see the difference then bully for you.

Having a gun in the house was totally normal for TM.

I don't understand why it has been continually stated that the three convicted criminals involved in this were not a risk to TM and he should have known that. With hindsight it was discovered that there were two of them in the house and they were unarmed. I suppose if TM didn't have a gun no doubt they would have left if he'd asked politely.

I still remember the sheer horror of waking up in the knowledge that someone had been prowling my house while I was asleep. Luckily this was pre DC and we had a lock on our bedroom door. It still gives me shivers to think I could have woken up to them standing at the end of the bed! It's easy to dismiss this kind of thing as just a 'burglary' if you've never experienced it.

In my opinion the murder charge should have remained!

We don't have the death penalty in this country, if we did I would not want people shot for burglary!

Tony Martin would never have shot the boy had he not illegally owned a gun.