http://www.bsdgb.co.uk/index.php?Information:Law_Relating_to_Self_Defence
The trouble is that the law is muddy, far too open to whimsy and opinion of the particular case, instead of an objective standard.
I compare that to the clarity of a newly elected Maricopa county prosecutor, back in the 1970s, when home defense was a big issue nationally. At his first press conference, he was asked “What should you do if someone breaks into your home?”
To which he replied, “You shoot the son of a bitch!” And for all intents and purposes, that was and has remained the law since then. No room for judicial whimsy, cunning rhetoric by ambitious defense counsels, or a lack of impartiality or prejudice on other accounts.
The homeowner may be an ugly old black man, and the robber an attractive blonde cheerleader, yet he will not even be charged. There is justice and fairness before the law.
Can Britain claim that?
There is a myth in America that the Brits have no right to self-defence, that they cant protect themselves. You read it here all the time.
This is bunkum. And as I have posted here many times, I myself (Sept 2008) actually have personal victim experience of this issue (attempted burglary and assault).
Whilst it is true that the US has more leeway than the UK (because many householders carry guns), the British have the right of self defence, to death if necessary (as we saw in a case last year). And the last two govts have in fact STRENGTHENED the law on behalf of victims/homeowners on self-defence.