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| Tony Martin, who killed burglar at farmhouse, dies | Tony Martin, who killed burglar at farmhouse, dies |
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| Tony Martin was convicted of murdering a teenage intruder in 2000 | Tony Martin was convicted of murdering a teenage intruder in 2000 |
| Convicted killer Tony Martin, who shot dead a teenage intruder in his home in 1999, has died at the age of 80, a family friend has said. | Convicted killer Tony Martin, who shot dead a teenage intruder in his home in 1999, has died at the age of 80, a family friend has said. |
| The killing of 16-year-old Fred Barras at Martin's Norfolk farmhouse was hugely controversial at the time, with the country divided over whether his actions were pre-meditated, or simply a farmer defending himself and his property. | The killing of 16-year-old Fred Barras at Martin's Norfolk farmhouse was hugely controversial at the time, with the country divided over whether his actions were pre-meditated, or simply a farmer defending himself and his property. |
| Martin was jailed in 2000 for the boy's murder, and for injuring another man, 29-year-old Brendan Fearon in the same incident, before being released three years later after the murder conviction was reduced to manslaughter. | Martin was jailed in 2000 for the boy's murder, and for injuring another man, 29-year-old Brendan Fearon in the same incident, before being released three years later after the murder conviction was reduced to manslaughter. |
| Martin lived on his own at his sprawling, semi-derelict farmhouse in Emneth Hungate, near Wisbech on the Norfolk/Cambridgeshire border at the time of the incident. | Martin lived on his own at his sprawling, semi-derelict farmhouse in Emneth Hungate, near Wisbech on the Norfolk/Cambridgeshire border at the time of the incident. |
| On the night of 20 August 1999, the pair entered his home, in an isolated part of the village, with the intention of burglary. | On the night of 20 August 1999, the pair entered his home, in an isolated part of the village, with the intention of burglary. |
| They had travelled from Newark in Nottinghamshire that evening to raid the property, called Bleak House, where Martin stored antiques. | They had travelled from Newark in Nottinghamshire that evening to raid the property, called Bleak House, where Martin stored antiques. |
| The farmer heard them, came down from an upstairs bedroom and opened fire with a pump-action shotgun. | |
| Fred Barras was aged 16 when he died after breaking into Martin's farmhouse | |
| Fred died at the farm while Fearon was treated in hospital for his injuries. | |
| Martin was arrested and charged with murdering the boy. | |
| A police photo showed the stairs in Bleak House from which Martin shot Fred Barras and Brendon Fearon | |
| Tony Martin was convicted of murdering the teenage intruder in 2000 | |
| At his trial, Martin claimed to have been acting in self-defence while prosecutors argued he had anticipated the pair and lay in wait for them. | |
| The case attracted huge public attention, with Martin's supporters casting him as a man taking a stand to defend his home and others seeing him as a violent eccentric who turned vigilante. | |
| Police officers pictured guarding the scene of the shooting at Martin's farmhouse in August 1999 | |
| Martin was convicted of murder and jailed for life in April 2000, with 10 years to run concurrently for a wounding offence and a further 12 months for possession of an illegal firearm. | |
| The charge was later downgraded to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility after a diagnosis of paranoid personality disorder, and he was released in 2003. | |
| In 2013, the Crime & Courts Act, external gave people a "householder's defence" if they used "reasonable" force against an intruder that was not "grossly disproportionate" - a change in the law that was influenced by the Tony Martin trial and other similar cases. |