to ask your thoughts on this? Fatal shooting during burglary

[itsjustataste]

Happened near me very recently and our community seems very torn with lots of people slinging insults at both sides. Lots of people shouting about playing stupid games, win stupid prizes etc... whilst others calling the shooter a murderer.

I find it very sad that someone so young has ultimately lost their life and has got mixed up in this sort of thing.

BUT that being said, I don't have any ill feeling toward the farmer either and cannot say that I wouldn't do the same if faced with 3 people breaking into my home, especially if I had my children in the house.

The other 2 suspects arrested for aggravated burglary meaning a weapon was involved and there had been a break in at the same home the night previously too.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-68942085.amp

I have zero sympathy for anyone who decides to break into someone else’s property armed with weapons. Obviously it’s tragic for their friends and families, but I have no sympathy for the one who died or the other two, as it was a situation entirely of their own making and the potential repercussions were obvious. They chose to take the risk, they’ve only got themselves to blame. I feel very, very sorry for the farmer and his family and I also hope he is treated leniently.

I’m afraid I think the farmer did what the majority would do. If you found 3 intruders with weapons in your home, you are going to defend yourself, your home and your family. He should not be prosecuted.

I feel sorry for the farmer especially about comments above in regards to his family and local abuse. I hope he doesn’t go to prison over this.

If they had been shot outside the property I might have sympathy, but inside the house is personal and scary. The poor farmer. I can't feel too sad for the boy who lost his life, I can't see he was on a path to do anything but cause misery and heartache to others if he'd lived.

They chose to break in. With weapons. The farmer didn’t choose for them to do that. What was he meant to do? If they had weapons they intended to cause harm. I feel for the young person’s family but ultimately my sympathy is for the farmer. The family of the young person will clearly be devastated by the loss but their young person was committing a serious crime with intent to cause injury and possible death. I hope the farmer is not punished for this as he has to live with this for the rest of his life too. Through no choice of his own.

I agree. The law is quite lenient on burglaries ...burglars these days. I would never hesitate to reach for a weapon if someone broke into my home. ... especially if kids are there.

I feel very sorry for the farmer. The burglars should not have been in his property and that's the fact. I feel sad when anyone died like this but the burgles were totally in the wrong.

No sympathy for the burglars whatsoever.

If they hadn't armed themselves and broken into someone's house at 1:30 am, they wouldn't have been shot.

I'm a single mum. I hope I would have as much courage to defend my family if I was placed in the same circumstances.

I feel deep sympathy for the farmer. He obviously felt threatened and defended himself. Particularly as it seems they were armed going in there.

I also am sad that a person is dead. A really young guy who could have had a whole life.

beyond that I don’t believe anyone has a right to judge what’s happened until/if there is a court case.

We live on a remote farm, what exactly should we do if we find a stranger with a weapon in our house?

Just make sure they're facing you when you shoot 😉

You don’t know what they are going to do. They could be burglars but equally they could be rapists or murderers. You don’t know that in the heat of the moment.

We were burgled several times when I was a teenager we lived rurally and my father physically saw off the burglars twice. He had three teen girls in the house and no weapons. If he had accidentally killed one of them - doesn’t bear thinking about. so can’t help but side with the farmer sorry.

I feel sympathy for everyone involved.

It’s awful the farmer was put in that position, it’s awful that a life was lost. Both families will no doubt be devastated. We have no idea what either party was thinking. Hopefully the courts will be able to work that out for themselves.

https://www.buxtonadvertiser.co.uk/news/people/fundraiser-launched-for-whaley-bridge-farmer-rob-lomas-to-cover-legal-costs-4615914

just donated to the fundraiser.
Well done to the farmer. He should be applauded and I hope everyone has the same courage.

No idea why people are yapping about the dead thief's family. He 100% deserved what he got. And they're probably covering up their shame at being related to a criminal.

Don't want to be hurt? Don't break into houses.

The sanitised Court case will discuss reasonable force and if there was a real and immediate threat to life and expect a person who is faced by 3 armed intruders to make split decisions on how much force can be used. What it will not and can not do is portray how absolutely terrifying it is to have 3 armed men in your house at 1.30am. It's not terrifying for the 3 armed men who made a decision to do this. They are not even scared of the consequences of getting caught. The total fear of this happening to you and the experience will never come across in a Court case in 18 months time, it will all be words and mitigation. And those paying tribute to someone who makes a decision to arm themselves and break into an isolate house should be ashamed of themselves. They won't of course.

Wow someone's donated £500!
Tempted to donate actually
I've never had to experience this thankfully but it must be so scary

It's crazy that if a dog worries livestock, the farmer (quite rightly) is entitled to shoot it, but can't do the same when his children are at risk.

When I was younger I lived with my baby dc alone. Someone broke into my house twice, a couple of nights apart. They were probably looking to take my car or something. The first night they didn't fully get in as were disturbed by my neighbour, the second night I was awake because I have never been able to sleep soundly since. I heard them coming through my window and into my kitchen and onto my stairs. The fear that I felt will never leave me. It's been almost 10 years and I have never slept a full night since, even though I have moved. I ran to my babies room when I heard them in the house and threw myself against the door. When I rang the police I couldn't talk or breathe properly because of fear. I was sick because I couldn't catch my breath. I will never forget that feeling and fear for my baby. If I'd have had a gun I'd have used it without hesitation. These people need to realise that they affect people for the rest of their lives. I'm 100 percent on the farmers side.

Don't burgle people and you won't get shot seems like a good start

There was an incident near me where kids had been messing about with the buses, pulling the doors, hanging off the back of them and generally being a nuisance, police involved
One did it one day, ran from behind the bus and got hit by a car and broke his pelvis and both legs

All online was poor (NC) Sam, cars fly down that road, going too fast..

No, he had been dicking about for months, ran out and got hit by an elderly driver doing the speed limit!

You don’t know what they are going to do. They could be burglars but equally they could be rapists or murderers. You don’t know that in the heat of the moment.

Quite. As well as having proven themselves to have obvious nefarious intentions, by breaking in and carrying weapons as they did so, they had the great luxury of knowing in advance what their plan was and also of knowing what they would or wouldn't do with their weapons.

The poor, terrified farmer had none of this.

I bet, if the burglar had tried to shoot the farmer and the bullet had rebounded back off a brick in the wall and killed him instead, there would still be people out there blaming the farmer for his death.

I'm not a lawyer, but I don't see how they can possibly be considering a verdict of murder with any seriousness. Surely murder requires an element of planning and malicious intent aforethought? Especially when you hear of people acting with violent abandon which leads to the death of their victim being only found guilty of manslaughter, because it's judged that they 'only' intended to seriously harm their victim but not actually kill them.

Are they claiming that the farmer planned for these creatures to break in to his property - armed - specifically so that he could deliberately kill them, with a motive that would obviously not have existed in the first place had they not decided to break in? Absurd.

I don't take any pleasure from the death of a young person in this way, but I also hesitate when their loved ones sorrow over how tragic it was and specifically how much their 'loveable rogue/rough diamond/no angel but...' still had to live for. I find it extremely difficult to believe that one so young who had already chosen this selfish, destructive and deadly pathway in life would have had a very productive long life as a highly-respected pillar of the community ahead of him. 'Still had so much to live for' does rather sound more like 'so many more innocent people to terrorise and maybe kill' before eventually coming to an end himself.

Hopefully the CPS wont take to court.

Am sure there was a case in South London where the burglar also died but the home owner was not prosecuted.

Team farmer in this house. Team anyone defending their family, livestock, pets or property from burglars/thieves etc. Commit a crime expect to pay for it. Justice isn’t always in the form of a trial and a jail sentence.

FAFO. We live on a fairly remote piece of land and I have five small children, I’m not waiting around for the police in an instance like that.

I can’t imagine the chill that would go through your bones seeing three armed figures approaching your home where your family are currently asleep.

I’d never really appreciated it until listening to a podcast about Padraig Nally, an elderly farmer from Co Mayo who shot a burglar attempting to rob him in 2004. Similar to Tony Martin, he had a lot of sympathy from the public and ultimately had his conviction quashed.

The responsibility here obviously lies with the burglars, but I wouldn’t be letting the local police off the hook. Ultimately their failure or inability to effectively police their rural jurisdiction has resulted in a situation where this farmer has had to use lethal force to protect himself and his family.

Team Farmer. I hope he gets off.