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| Using weapons against burglars: should we shoot the messengers? | Using weapons against burglars: should we shoot the messengers? |
| (30 days later) | |
| So Andy and Tracey Ferrie, the couple held by police for three days after using a shotgun against burglars at their rural home, are not to be prosecuted. The tabloids rejoice and Chris Grayling, the new justice secretary, must be quietly relieved not to be drawn into a divisive (and tempting) controversy so early in his cabinet career. | So Andy and Tracey Ferrie, the couple held by police for three days after using a shotgun against burglars at their rural home, are not to be prosecuted. The tabloids rejoice and Chris Grayling, the new justice secretary, must be quietly relieved not to be drawn into a divisive (and tempting) controversy so early in his cabinet career. |
| Newspapers like the Guardian and their readers tend not to get agitated by such cases, preferring to engage with those where more abstract features of the justice system are at stake – the rights of asylum seekers (not just a famous Julian Assange), or police abuse of procedure, including the use of firearms, against vulnerable people or suspected criminals. | Newspapers like the Guardian and their readers tend not to get agitated by such cases, preferring to engage with those where more abstract features of the justice system are at stake – the rights of asylum seekers (not just a famous Julian Assange), or police abuse of procedure, including the use of firearms, against vulnerable people or suspected criminals. |
| And rightly so. After PC Simon Harwood was acquitted of manslaughter in the case of Ian Tomlinson, the newspaper vendor killed during the G20 protests in 2009, it emerged there had been a series of complaints about his behaviour (though most were found unproven). The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had initially declined to prosecute him until the findings of the pathologist Freddy Patel – who also has past form – were discredited. Harwood is still a police officer. A thoroughly disquieting case. | And rightly so. After PC Simon Harwood was acquitted of manslaughter in the case of Ian Tomlinson, the newspaper vendor killed during the G20 protests in 2009, it emerged there had been a series of complaints about his behaviour (though most were found unproven). The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had initially declined to prosecute him until the findings of the pathologist Freddy Patel – who also has past form – were discredited. Harwood is still a police officer. A thoroughly disquieting case. |
| But, if it is right for the Guardian to be tenacious in such cases, is it wrong for the Daily Mail to be fierce in standing up for people who defend their homes against intruders, often at night in frightening circumstances? I think so. Indeed, I suspect that more people get excited about the unfairness of the Ferries' detention than do about, say, the rights of the Islamist cleric Abu Qatada not to be deported home to Jordan. | But, if it is right for the Guardian to be tenacious in such cases, is it wrong for the Daily Mail to be fierce in standing up for people who defend their homes against intruders, often at night in frightening circumstances? I think so. Indeed, I suspect that more people get excited about the unfairness of the Ferries' detention than do about, say, the rights of the Islamist cleric Abu Qatada not to be deported home to Jordan. |
| The Ferries, who live in an isolated 200-year-old cottage at Welby outside Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, had been burgled several times before. | The Ferries, who live in an isolated 200-year-old cottage at Welby outside Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, had been burgled several times before. |
| No wonder the vigilante lobby stirs at times like this with complaints that the police are useless and the law biased against the law-abiding. It can feel like that when the cops appear to pick off easy targets to keep up their conviction rates and the CPS seems sloppy or supine. | No wonder the vigilante lobby stirs at times like this with complaints that the police are useless and the law biased against the law-abiding. It can feel like that when the cops appear to pick off easy targets to keep up their conviction rates and the CPS seems sloppy or supine. |
| So when masked men burst in last weekend, Andrew Ferrie fired the shotgun, legally owned by his wife and kept in their bedroom, and injured one of the intruders in the hand. At Loughborough magistrates court on Wednesday, the injured man, Daniel Mansell, 33, pleaded guilty to burglary. He too has form for burglary, robbery and witness intimidation – he was released under probationary supervision last year after serving two years of a six-year sentence for a violent attack. Three other men were arrested. | So when masked men burst in last weekend, Andrew Ferrie fired the shotgun, legally owned by his wife and kept in their bedroom, and injured one of the intruders in the hand. At Loughborough magistrates court on Wednesday, the injured man, Daniel Mansell, 33, pleaded guilty to burglary. He too has form for burglary, robbery and witness intimidation – he was released under probationary supervision last year after serving two years of a six-year sentence for a violent attack. Three other men were arrested. |
| So far I am with the Ferries on this one, relieved only that the use of a weapon was effective, rather than being a prelude to a familiar tragedy in which the victims of a robbery who resist their assailants end up injured or dead. But it's a fine line. Tony Martin, the Norfolk farmer who fatally shot an intruder in the back as he fled, was jailed for murder, later reduced (rightly) to manslaughter, with five years in jail. | So far I am with the Ferries on this one, relieved only that the use of a weapon was effective, rather than being a prelude to a familiar tragedy in which the victims of a robbery who resist their assailants end up injured or dead. But it's a fine line. Tony Martin, the Norfolk farmer who fatally shot an intruder in the back as he fled, was jailed for murder, later reduced (rightly) to manslaughter, with five years in jail. |
| Munir Hussain, the Buckinghamshire businessman who chased a burglar who had tied up his family and threatened them with a knife, caught him down the road and beat him with a cricket bat and metal pole. Hussain clearly overdid it. He must have been frightened and angry, but the intruder was no longer in his home. He got two and a half years, later reduced to a one-year suspended sentence. The burglar was not jailed either. | Munir Hussain, the Buckinghamshire businessman who chased a burglar who had tied up his family and threatened them with a knife, caught him down the road and beat him with a cricket bat and metal pole. Hussain clearly overdid it. He must have been frightened and angry, but the intruder was no longer in his home. He got two and a half years, later reduced to a one-year suspended sentence. The burglar was not jailed either. |
| David Cameron then promised a review of the law and routinely repeats that pledge. | David Cameron then promised a review of the law and routinely repeats that pledge. |
| Last year the CPS decided that a Manchester man who fatally stabbed a machete-wielding burglar would not be prosecuted. The tabloids were pleased. But those such as the Mail's fiery pundit Simon Heffer who argue that the government should clarify the law through legislation have a point. | Last year the CPS decided that a Manchester man who fatally stabbed a machete-wielding burglar would not be prosecuted. The tabloids were pleased. But those such as the Mail's fiery pundit Simon Heffer who argue that the government should clarify the law through legislation have a point. |
| It's tricky and risky for government. Grayling must be tempted to make his name in tough law-and-order posturing, unlike his predecessor, Ken Clarke, who sensibly wondered why the prison population had almost doubled since he was last home secretary in 1993. It's very expensive, complained Ken, who is also an ex-chancellor. | It's tricky and risky for government. Grayling must be tempted to make his name in tough law-and-order posturing, unlike his predecessor, Ken Clarke, who sensibly wondered why the prison population had almost doubled since he was last home secretary in 1993. It's very expensive, complained Ken, who is also an ex-chancellor. |
| Alas, it doubled because Michael Howard, Tony Blair, David Blunkett and co engaged in a law and order bidding war. Crime has gone down, they all say. And it has, but for more complex reasons than locking up people, many of whom should not be there. It's not a message the tabloids want their readers to understand. | Alas, it doubled because Michael Howard, Tony Blair, David Blunkett and co engaged in a law and order bidding war. Crime has gone down, they all say. And it has, but for more complex reasons than locking up people, many of whom should not be there. It's not a message the tabloids want their readers to understand. |
| Today's lurid reporting of the judge who said it must take a desperate kind of courage to burgle a stranger's house illustrates the problem. All the usual media suspects picked up the story with glee and outrage. | Today's lurid reporting of the judge who said it must take a desperate kind of courage to burgle a stranger's house illustrates the problem. All the usual media suspects picked up the story with glee and outrage. |
| The Mail's account included comments from outraged victims of burglary. But even that account gives enough information to explain why Judge Peter Bowers said what he said when he gave Richard Rochford a 12-month suspended sentence (plus 200 hours' community service and drug rehabilitation) at Teeside crown court. | The Mail's account included comments from outraged victims of burglary. But even that account gives enough information to explain why Judge Peter Bowers said what he said when he gave Richard Rochford a 12-month suspended sentence (plus 200 hours' community service and drug rehabilitation) at Teeside crown court. |
| The accused was an amateur with a drug habit and robbed two unlocked homes while their occupants slept. He had co-operated with police and stopped using drugs, the court heard. "I think prison rarely does anyone any good," said the judge, though the papers note that he is not wholly consistent on this point. Well, that's human nature too, but he's more right than wrong about prison, where rehabilitation programmes become harder the more crowded the system is. | The accused was an amateur with a drug habit and robbed two unlocked homes while their occupants slept. He had co-operated with police and stopped using drugs, the court heard. "I think prison rarely does anyone any good," said the judge, though the papers note that he is not wholly consistent on this point. Well, that's human nature too, but he's more right than wrong about prison, where rehabilitation programmes become harder the more crowded the system is. |
| Whether he was right to give Rochford a second chance, only time will tell. And we will probably only get to hear about it if he's proved wrong and the law and order tabloids have a chance to get excited all over again. | Whether he was right to give Rochford a second chance, only time will tell. And we will probably only get to hear about it if he's proved wrong and the law and order tabloids have a chance to get excited all over again. |
| Perhaps the election of police and crime commissioners across England and Wales on 15 November will enhance the quality of debate on this subject. Let's hope so, because respect for the police, their competence and commitment, is currently low in neglected rural areas as well as in some big cities. | Perhaps the election of police and crime commissioners across England and Wales on 15 November will enhance the quality of debate on this subject. Let's hope so, because respect for the police, their competence and commitment, is currently low in neglected rural areas as well as in some big cities. |
| As French police struggle to solve the murders near smart Annecy in the Alps in the coming days we will get a useful comparator. Here's one analysis which reminds us how different the procedures are in otherwise similar countries. I hope the vigilante lobby is watching because I'm pretty sure our record in solving such murders is better than theirs. | As French police struggle to solve the murders near smart Annecy in the Alps in the coming days we will get a useful comparator. Here's one analysis which reminds us how different the procedures are in otherwise similar countries. I hope the vigilante lobby is watching because I'm pretty sure our record in solving such murders is better than theirs. |
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