'I killed burglar because he was coming at me with a machete' [But UK charges him with homicide]

A man stabbed to death a burglar he found in his family's home because he believed he was going to be killed with a machete, an Old Bailey jury heard yesterday.

Barry Hastings, 25, discovered the man after deciding to visit his two children, aged two and four, and his wife, Nicola, from whom he was separated but on friendly terms.

Peter Kyte, QC, prosecuting, said Hastings told police that he noticed all the lights were off in the ground floor flat in Tottenham, north London.

"A bedroom light came on and he saw a black man, an intruder, prowling in two separate bedrooms," said Mr Kyte.

Hastings entered the flat through a door which he found had been broken open and claimed to have heard voices, including that of his two-year-old daughter. "Thus it was he entered the kitchen and grabbed a large bread knife," said Mr Kyte.

Hastings told police: "The next thing this guy has come running down the hall. He has gone, 'Right you bastard, this is it', and he has got a big thing in the air.

"It was all dark and the curtains were shut and I couldn't see. The light caught it and I thought it was a machete. He just attacked me and we started fighting.

"The next thing I knew we were outside. He said, 'Let me go'. I was frightened for my life. He ran at me. I was just trying to fight for my life, I was just hitting him and hitting him, probably as hard as I could. I don't know which part of his body I hit."

Roger Williams, 35, suffered 12 stab wounds to his head and back, including one which penetrated his heart. He staggered along the road, leaving a trail of blood until he collapsed. He died in an ambulance en route to hospital.

After the incident, Hastings went to his mother-in-law's home where he found his family. Mr Kyte added: "It was plain he was scared, almost hysterical. He was crying and explained someone was trying to break into the house. He said he thought he had killed him." Hastings, a trainee gas engineer, denies murder and claims he acted in self defence.

Mr Kyte told the jury that Mr Williams, from Tottenham, was "a man with many criminal convictions. His record shows him to have been a career burglar since, at the very least, 1983, and he had used violence in the past". He was also wanted by the police.

He was "bent on burgling" when he took a jemmy from a friend's house and decided to break into the flat.

However, Mr Kyte said: "The law recognises a man is entitled to defend himself, his family and his property, but only if his actions do not go beyond the reasonable and the necessary.

"There is no doubt that Mr Hastings had stumbled across a burglary. There is no doubt that Mr Williams was a thoroughly bad hat in the eyes of the law, but nonetheless he was just as entitled to the freedom to live as anyone else."

Although a householder had a right to defend himself, "we argue in this case, alas, this man overstepped the mark and went quite a distance beyond what in law he was entitled to do".

Mr Kyte claimed Hastings had initially said the stabbing took place inside the flat, but blood stains revealed it was outside. Although Hastings said Mr Williams had repeatedly brought down what he thought was a machete, he suffered only "trivial injuries".

* Here's an update to this story. Not much new information though.

I stabbed burglar to protect my two young children, says father

By Sue Clough, Courts Correspondent

(Filed: 04/09/2002)

UK Telegraph

A father fought back tears yesterday as he described how he stabbed a burglar, who later died, to protect his two young children.

Barry Hastings, 25, had gone to the home of his wife Nicola, their son and daughter, when he saw a man prowling through the bedrooms.

At first he thought it might be a friend, but when he discovered a door had been forced, he realised the house in Tottenham, north London, was being burgled and became "deeply alarmed".

He took the "scariest thing I could find" - a knife from a block in the kitchen, and in the ensuing struggle, stabbed Roger Williams 12 times, mainly in the back.

Hastings, a gas engineer, who denies murdering Williams, told an Old Bailey jury: "I never intended to stab anyone. I wanted to scare whoever was in the house away."

As he walked into the house he listened and thought he heard people speaking. "I was going to call the police on my mobile phone but then I thought I heard my daughter crying and I thought I heard men's voices. I thought someone had the children [a girl of two and a boy of four] and I thought something was happening to them."

He told the jury that when he took the knife his first thought was to protect his children. As he tried to pluck up the courage to walk upstairs, Williams suddenly appeared. "He ran down shouting 'this is it, this is it'.

"He had a long weapon. I was trying to see what it was. All I remember is the light glistening on it as it was in the air. I believed it was a machete. I was terrified, I did not know what to do. I sort of froze.

"I stood my ground and he continued towards me and started to hit me." The two men grappled and fought and Hastings said although he could not remember the details, "I would have been hitting him as hard as I could because every time I hit him I believed I was protecting my children - instinct took over."

Finally "he was holding me and I was holding him and he asked me to let go. I let go and stepped back and he went out of the gate."

The court has heard that Williams, 35, was "a career burglar" with convictions including some for violence dating back to his teens, and was wanted by the police.

He was "bent on burgling" when he broke into Mrs Hastings's home last January. After staggering away he collapsed in the street nearby and died in an ambulance on the way to hospital.

It was only after he had gone that Hastings discovered the house was empty, as his family were visiting relatives. Hastings told the jury that although he and his wife were separated, they remained on good terms and he was hoping for a reconciliation.

After the stabbing he went to his mother-in-law's home and found his wife and children there. He threw away the blood-stained bread knife because "I realised I might have injured him. I was panicking. I thought I might be in some sort of trouble".

Hastings, born in Glasgow, has a conviction for burglary and police cautions for carrying a knife and causing actual bodily harm, the court has heard.

Peter Kyte, QC, prosecuting, said although a man was entitled to defend himself, his family and property, Hastings had "overstepped the mark and went quite a distance beyond what in law he was entitled to do".

He said no machete was found and Williams was probably carrying the jemmy he used to break in.

The trial continues.

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