Burglary

[crossroads]

Imaging, you and the family are asleep. Then a burgler breaks into your house unaware your upstairs. Lets say he is armed with a kitchen knife. You are the only one to wake up. How would you handle the situation?

[knobbynonuts]

Hit the thing with the baseball bat that I sleep with

[rocklolo]

Knob! what thing????

[crossroads]

isn't it illegal to attack intruders?

[knobbynonuts]

Dont care if its illegal if they come into my house and threaten me and mrs nutts and me dog they will feel the force of my bat and to hell with human rights as they have none as they are not human (they will be just a vegtable when I have finnished with them)

[Doc Spock]

Knock the bu55er senseless but don't brag like Tony Martin, that was his mistake. He should have feigned remorse, then laugh in private.

[MrBen5]

Hmmm, i have had first hand experience on this unfortunatley.
I was at a female aquaintences house though.
Some guy broke in through the kitchen window apparently, but he didnt have kitchen knife, he had a crow bar.
She woke me up to tell me she heard a noise. I went downstairs to see and the cheely twt was making something to eat whilst he was rummaging round. As soon as he saw me he was saying he had a needle and that he was gonna stab me with it(i was quite shocked actually cos he had a crowbar in his hand but didnt mention it).
Anyway to cut a long story short i just told him to get out, but as he was climbing out the window i smacked him with a dyson, the window broke and he was covered in blood. I am still awaiting my court date as i am being charged with wounding with intent. This happened over a year ago.
For people out there, i would suggest that if you ever catch anyone on your house, do your thing, but drag them upstairs after and throw them down as you will apparently not be charged as you can say you were protecting yourself.
The law protects the junkie, beware...

[chompu]

1) Mentally recall all the self defence training I have received.
2) Lock the door and push bed up against it.
3) Phone police and ask if they're not too busy could they pop around.

[MrBen5]

Hmmm, chompu, all the police will do is tell you stay on the phone. Then 50 mins later they will turn up after they have finished giving someone a �50 fine for being sick in the street or walking round intoxicated.
Then when they come, they will spend 20 mins telling you that you should have checked all your windows and doors before you went to bed, and that there is no need to worry, they think they know who it is. Then they ask if your insured and if you want the crime number.
Then they will tell you that they will get back in touch with you, but they never do.
I could go on all day, but had better not...

[crossroads]

Try telling them the burgler has parked on double yellow lines. See how quick the responce would be then!!!

[Joe_the_Lion]

MrBen, I have a law CPE but have never practiced nor have the licence to do so. But I can assure you any lawyer with a decent record and most certainly any barrister should be able to get you off the charge fairly easy.

Good luck, I am sure the final result will be in favour of yourself. Public opinion DOES influence the judge and jury.

[MrBen5]

Hmmm, hope so joe_the_lion , apparently i used 'excessive' force and have caused him much distress. He hasnt been able to work since.
Its a good job i have a sense of humour and find it laughable.
You couldnt make it up...

[Joe_the_Lion]

Well "excessive" force ( i seem to recall ) will fall on the prosecution to "prove" as opposed to you to "defend", if that makes sense.

Lets hope the jury is not made up of namby-pamby, left wing social workers who when confronted with evidence that the burgling piece of sh!t comes from a broken home with few life chances and a history of substance abuse will all feel sorry for him.

PS How's the Dyson? Or did the fuzz seize it as evidence?

[chompu]

Of course Mr ben, if the police did turn up and used their cs gas spray on the burglar, you could go to the station with them and help the officer fill out a lengthy report as to the circumstances of its' use.Then you could help them pack up the cannister for sending to the laboratory so it can be assesed that they didn't use too much.
God bless the dogooders among us. Safeguarding the rights of the violent criminal.

[rocklolo]

you have the right to defend yourself with a reasonable force and the police state that it is your right.
But they means.
1) you can hold somebody down jump on their back, sit on them, restricted their movement.
2) you can use a {weapon} not the right term, but something that belong to your household but not a knife or a fire pocker.
3) you are allowed to defend yourself only if your intruder is actually about to engage in a attack.
4) you are not allowed to {attack} your intruder if he or she are walking away or if you are causing injuries in their back for exemple.
remember the story of the farmer who went to prison because he fired his shot gun at a youngster?
the reason why he went to prison it is because he shot him in the back and this was no longer regarded as self defence.

[Joe_the_Lion]

Sorry rockolo, that is too simple.

Of course you can use a knife or a poker, if that is reasonable. The Police for example, do not really have any extra powers than a civilian in these circumstances, and they carry and use bloody guns!!!

Again if the intruder is walking away you can still use reasonable force in their apprehension (arrest if Police).

Sect 3 of the Criminal Law Act (amendment)

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200 506/cmbills/018/06018.i-i.html

Has always mentioned the use of force re arrest. That means if the "attack" kicks off again when you are trying to arrest him, we are back to square one and game on.

The case of Tony Martin as you mention was, in the eyes of the law, unreasonable. If he used the gun in their apprehension and then the pikey sh!t was shot, no offence.

[crossroads]

I asked my boss the question and he said that if there was a burgler he would do 3 things.
1. Call the police and tell them he was about to kill an intruder.
2. Without the burgler knowing sneak up and smack him with a crowbar or somthing that he keeps by his bed.
3.Drag the burgler upstairs and then throw him back down again, so as the police would think the burgler had done the head injury as a result of falling down the stairs.
Lets just hope the burgler doesn't decide to intrude on the boss.

[bensmum]

I think I would do as rocklolo says and phone the police telling them that I have a large gun/knife and will use them. I actually do have an air rifle and a very large sharp knife handy (all legit!) but I wouldn't use them - the police wouldn't know that though

[beryllium]

I wouldn't hesitate to kill them. Of course, that would be a bit of a pain having to bury the scummy thing, something good may be on tele and I hate being disturbed!!!.. but as Joe quite rightly points out.... it would stop the breeding.

[DottyH]

I would not need to handle it, my dogs Bingo and Max would not need feeding for a week.

[dot.hawkes]

ooo i have got dogs called max and bingo too lol