Britain legalizes stabbing burglars
British Justice Secretary
says householders who stab
and maybe kill burglars will not be prosecuted
British Justice Secretary said yesterday that an act of Parliament would be used to “clarify” the existing legal right to use “reasonable force” against intruders. He made his statement after a householder was arrested on suspicion of murder following the stabbing of a burglar at a house in Manchester last week.
Put the knife down kid
Prime Minister David Cameron has promised that the new Justice Bill would “put beyond doubt that home owners and small shopkeepers who use reasonable force to defend themselves or their properties will not be prosecuted”.
Yesterday, Secretary Clarke defined out the sort of action that would be permitted under the new regime. He made clear that it would remain illegal to pursue intruders to attack them or to shoot them as they fled. Clark said:
“If an old lady finds she has got an 18 year-old burgling her house and she picks up a kitchen knife and sticks it in him, she has not committed a criminal offense and we will make that clear . . . There is no doubt that you or I or anybody else is entitled to use reasonable force to defend ourselves and to protect ourselves or our homes or both. That has to be the law and we are going to make that absolutely clear. We are clarifying the law. What they are not entitled to do is go running down the road chasing them or shooting them in the back when they are running away or to get their friends together and go and beat them up . . . We all know what we mean when we say a person has an absolute right to defend themselves and their home and reasonable force. Nobody should prosecute and nobody should ever convict anybody who takes these steps. It will be much clearer when we have set it out in this act of Parliament.”
Will there be a limit to how many times you can stab them before you are breaking the law?