Posted on 06/29/2002 5:09:49 AM PDT by marshmallow
The farmer jailed for the manslaughter of a 16-year-old burglar is being sued for up to £50,000 by one of the men who broke in to his home. Brendan Fearon, 32, was wounded in the shooting at Tony Martin's Norfolk farmhouse which ended in the death of teenager Fred Barras.
Fearon now plans to sue Martin for thousands of pounds in damages - claiming assault and trespass against the person.
But friends of the jailed farmer expressed their anger at the news.
Malcolm Starr, a businessman who has led a campaign to secure Martin's release, said he was astonished Fearon intended to demand compensation from the 57-year-old farmer.
Mr Starr said a solicitor's letter written by lawyers acting for Fearon had been sent to Martin's home at Bleak House Farm, Emneth Hungate, Norfolk, where the burglar was shot in the legs in August 1999.
The letter, dated 20 June, read: "Re: Our client Brendon Fearon. We act on behalf of the above named and are instructed by him in connection with a claim for damages as a result of assault and trespass in relation to the incident of the 20 August 1999."
Fearon, of Newark, Nottinghamshire, is thought to be hopeful of gaining up to £50,000 by taking out a no-win, no-fee action against Martin.
Mr Starr said of Fearon: "I am amazed at the audacity of this, but I suppose these people are long-term criminals who just don't care.
'£1 compensation'
"I'm sure all right-thinking people will think this is madness and it will confirm Tony's view that the system seems to be hell-bent on protecting the criminals and not the victims.
"I suppose Fearon has nothing to lose. The ideal scenario now would be for the courts to award £1 in compensation and fine him £5,000 for wasting the court's time."
Martin is currently serving a five-year sentence after his murder conviction was reduced to manslaughter by the Court of Appeal.
The farmer is reportedly due to be considered for parole in October, although it has been suggested that his release could be delayed until July next year.
For those who may remember, two punks broke into Mr. Martin's property a couple of years ago. Martin took a shotgun and let them have it. One died.
Result? He is now in jail, the surviving miscreant is walking around a free man and preparing to sue the man whose home he assaulted.
Yeah, well.. the Brits have made their bed. Not once but repeatedly. Personally, I think that England will go the way of Africa. Sad.
We hope. It looks like British justice is going the way of British health care, transport, cuisine, etc.
(Much gratitude to George W. and the boys.)
And for this, he was charged with murder. Seems to me these punks brought death and the wounding to themselves. Afterall, they didn't have to break into the man's house.
This poor chap was pushed to the edge.
The ideal scenario would include fining his contingency fee jackal lawyers and awarding the farmer both lawyers' fees and damages.
After they have all your guns, they will make self defense a crime even if it was with a kitchen knife.
Ayn Rand explained this. You must have so many laws that no one can get through life without violating many of them. Then everyone has something to hide and/or feel guilty about. This makes everyone docile and easy meat for the police state.
Tony Blair, how can you even hold your head up in public with stuff like this going on? Talk about people calling evil, good.
It's aptly named.. Looking pretty damn bleak from here.
The worst thing about this story is that it could happen here. As our region is infiltrated by former residents of Assachusetts from the south, and by God knows what from the north, the former would disarm us so that we could not protect ourselves from the latter, in a heartbeat!
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